


A Fal'Cie's Gift

by Imrryr



Category: Final Fantasy XIII
Genre: Almost Completely Ignores FFXIII-2, Crystal Stasis, F/F, Femslash, flight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-23
Updated: 2013-04-20
Packaged: 2017-11-16 21:39:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 27,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/544110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Imrryr/pseuds/Imrryr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When she thinks about the fal'Cie who gave her this second focus, Lightning isn't sure if she wants to hunt down and destroy it or erect a giant statue in its honour. FLight. Set five years after Orphan's fall.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place after the end of FFXIII but pretty much ignores the second game, so I suppose you could call it an AU if you wanted. I do go in a slightly (?) darker direction when it comes to life after the fall of Cocoon's fal'Cie, but what follows isn't a total angst-fest, I promise :)

* * *

"As long as our souls remain strong, that is all that matters; as long as they don't decline. Because with the fall of certain souls in this world, the world itself will collapse. These are the pillars which support it. They are few, but enough."

\- Nikos Kazantzakis

...

Five years after Orphan's fall...

 ...

With the aid of a wooden cane, the soldier slowly limped her way down the long, dark corridor as the muffled blasts of a hundred distant explosions reverberated through the crystal column.

She had to admit feeling relieved to know it was all going to be over soon. The inevitability of defeat had been dogging her for five increasingly difficult years. Or, perhaps defeat had already come? What she had witnessed since the fall of the fal'Cie had already broken her in ways she never thought she could be broken.

It was one thing to kill a few PSICOM soldiers who were foolish enough to stand in her way - as she had five years ago - but this war... this war was something else entirely.

The rumblings continued. Time was running out, but she kept a slow pace. Her wounded ankle throbbed and made her grimace with every step, but there was nothing to be done about it now; just the other night, she'd used up the last of the potions she had saved for this last stand of hers. Hopefully, when the enemy finally found their way up here, she'd have enough mobility left in her to give them a good fight.

Years ago at Orphan's Cradle, Lightning once had a glimpse of a very different fate. In order to torture Fang and Vanille into becoming Ragnarok, Orphan had turned Lightning and the rest of the l'Cie into Cie'th. The instant the transformation occurred, the soldier thought her life was over, but then something unexpected happened: she had a vision. She had seen it all as an observer: Fang, Vanille, Serah, _everyone_ including herself _,_ they were all together, smiling and laughing as though all their troubles were but a distant memory. Every one of them had a similar experience at the time. The vision had given them the hope they needed to break the chains of their focus and go on to defeat the mad, death-seeking fal'Cie.

It was a future worth fighting for, but it was a future that never came to pass. No, when the fal'Cie fell, instead of happily ever after, Lightning could only look on helplessly as Cocoon's society quickly fractured and Fang and Vanille remained trapped in a crystal prison.

That night, after the fall but before everything went to hell, all the former l'Cie of Cocoon had gathered and shared their visions with each other. Each one turned out to be essentially the same: a reunion of sorts was taking place, all the them back together sometime in the not too distant future. She listened to the tales with interest, but when it came time for Lightning to describe her particular vision, she did it in a very brief and non-descriptive sort of way which everyone just took as Lightning being Lightning, but in all honesty, what she had seen had shocked her greatly.

Her dream had been similar to the others in a way... yet it other ways it was completely different. Everyone had described the reunion as taking place on a beach, but she distinctly remembered not a beach, but the sunny grasslands of the Archylte Steppe, and instead of it being maybe five or ten years in the future as all the others had recounted, her dream must've been twenty or thirty years further off.

She'd had gray hair in her vision - as did most of the other guests - and wrinkles to match her apparent age. All the former l'Cie were there: Serah, Snow, Hope, Sazh, Dajh, Vanille, and Fang, along with some younger people she didn't recognize. Serah's children perhaps? She'd always pictured her sister having a lot of kids...

Fang was there in front of a campfire - animatedly regaling everyone with a tale that Lightning in her disembodied dream state couldn't quite hear - and age hadn't made her any less stunning. The woman's eyes sparkled with that same fire and intelligence that the soldier had been captivated by the first time they'd met in Palumpolum. She had wrinkles in this future too, but the smile lines on her face spoke of years filled with happiness. Even at the age of fifty or sixty, everything about Oerba Yun Fang radiated passion and a lust for living that left Lightning breathless.

In thirty years, Fang hadn't changed a bit it seemed. And while that was perhaps a little surprising, it wasn't what really shocked the soldier at the time.

No, it was seeing her dream self that did it. This future version of herself had that same perfectly contented look about her. As Fang told her story, a story which clearly Lightning was a part of, she reached for the soldier's hand and Lightning accepted it as if holding hands with Fang was something she did all the time. And Lightning, despite her advanced age, was smiling and blushing at the warrior's story almost like a lovestruck teenager. It was hard to believe what she was seeing; she couldn't remember ever feeling as happy as she appeared to be in that vision, and the way those two women were _looking_ at each other...

Lightning shook her head. It still wasn't entirely clear what the dream was trying to tell her... was she a completely different person thirty years from now? Was there something between her and Fang? She didn't know. Regardless, the vision was something that stayed etched in her mind ever since. It was something she held on to even as the world around her grew increasingly unbearable. Every morning she awoke hoping that this would be finally be the day where her vision would begin to take shape.

Sadly, the life she'd lived since Orphan's fall had turned out to be completely incompatible with what she had seen that day. She had scars on her face that weren't in the dream, and she certainly hadn't needed a cane to get around...

No. That dream was nothing but fal'Cie smoke and mirrors... but why?

She sighed as she stopped. wiped the sweat off her forehead, and then reluctantly continued onward. The wide and seemingly endless, perfectly straight tunnel she was walking through was a good mile and a half long. It always gave her way too much time to think, even when she'd been perfectly healthy.

During the chaotic weeks that followed the fall of the fal'Cie, Snow and Serah had been so certain that things would work out. The turmoil surely couldn't go on forever, they had said at the time. And at first, Lightning had believed them. If the people could just be made to listen, they would understand who Dysley really was and why the Sanctum and the fal'Cie had to be destroyed.

But the people of Cocoon didn't listen. They were too busy starving to death.

They had grown too soft, too used to relying on the fal'Cie for their every need. Almost no one in all of Cocoon had any experience in growing their own food, and even fewer people knew anything about the substantially more complicated tasks formerly directed by the fal'Cie, like running power stations, for example.

Cocoon's society couldn't function without electricity.

At Kujata's direction, Cocoon's power had run continuously for centuries, but like all of Cocoon's fal'Cie, Kujata was now gone forever. Certainly, there were humans willing to learn, and almost everything they needed to know was there in Cocoon's expansive data banks... but without power the task just seemed insurmountable. Just the act of building a power station required machines; machines which in turn were manufactured and maintained by other machines, all requiring electricity to produce and operate. It was a seemingly endless cycle.

The databanks could tell them all they needed to know about how to build civilization anew with its necessary factories, robotic farms and computers, but people couldn't actually build any of those things, not without power, not on the scale needed for so many people and not before half the population starved.

Forty-one million people set adrift on an alien and hostile world that the Sanctum had taught them to fear since birth. Forty-one million people with only enough food to last a few weeks. She should've known this chaos would be the result. If she had, she might've joined Fang and Vanille in their sacrifice.

Lightning had learned something in those long months after Orphan's fall: people will resort to almost anything in order to feed themselves.

That was why there were no wild animals on the Archylte Steppe anymore. Hell, there wasn't a creature native to Pulse to be found within three-hundred miles, as far as she knew. Five years on and barren patches still marred the Steppe from when the desperate resorted to eating the grass itself just so they could stay alive for another day.

Out of that chaos came a new Sanctum, and with its promises of order and sustenance came a charismatic leader, a young man Lightning had never met. She only knew he was formerly a low level PSICOM officer. What came next was predictable enough; the newly miserable masses were searching for something or someone to blame for their misfortune and they found it in the l'Cie who had brought down Primarch Dysley and overturned the entire order of the world.

Perhaps they should've brought a news crew with them when they defeated Orphan, Lightning mused with a trace of humor.

But it wasn't as if she had gone through this hell alone. Serah and Snow, now married with two children, helped get the city of New Bodhum on its feet. Hope turned into a bright young man, and Sazh was there with his son, running expeditions to Cocoon to look for anything they could use in the rebuilding effort. What little remained of the Calvary sided with them too, as did the security forces of several cities - thanks mostly to Amodar's influence - and, of course, NORA was with them. Over the first year alone they managed to entice almost a million civilians to their side, among them many of Cocoon's brightest minds who fled from an increasingly repressive Sanctum government.

For a brief time, Lightning had allowed herself to think that maybe things _would_ work out. In the months that followed their landing on Pulse, her thoughts had begun to dwell on the possibility of rescuing her two missing friends. Fang and Vanille had sacrificed themselves to save a world they had good reason to hate; freeing them from crystal stasis seemed like the least she could do in return.

_And_ it would allow her to see Fang again.

Some ancient ruin out there in the endless wilderness of Gran Pulse might've held the secret of how to return her friends to their human forms, but in the end she had to stay where she was. The peace was much too tenuous. There was no point braving the wilds only to return and find Fang and Vanille smashed into a thousand crystal pieces.

The very idea of such a fate lying in store for either woman made her feel ill, but looking back from five years on, perhaps it was for the best that she never even got a chance to try. Confined to their crystals, Fang and Vanille at least wouldn't get to see their dreams die a slow, inevitable death.

So, for several years there was a nervous truce that could not really be called peace. A no-man's-land of craters and barbed wire formed the border between New Bodhum and the Sanctum forces on the Archylte Steppe. Serah and Snow raised a family together, Hope and Dajh grew up, and Lightning buried herself in her role of preparing New Bodhum's army for an inevitable confrontation with the Sanctum.

The truce finally came to an end several months ago, and ever since that day it had been one long battle after another. Day after day, Lightning fought as though she didn't want to see the sunset and day after day she surprised everyone by surviving. She watched as thousands of others died, then tens of thousands, then hundreds of thousands... It was five years too late, but Barthandelus was finally getting his wish.

And as for Lightning? Every day she had to kill more of her own people - people who six years ago she would've passed in the streets without giving a second glance - and every night she washed the blood off her armor, collapsed into her bed and dreamt of a fal'Cie's fantasy that would never come true.

Thank the Maker for her friends. During the shaky peace of those first few years, Hope and Sazh discovered another ark embedded in Cocoon's shell, a massive floating relic from Pulsian history almost two-thousand feet long. Despite its great age, the thing was still functional and the old pilot spent months learning the Pulsian language just to figure out how to fly it.

The ark led them to a new plan, and though it went against every part of Lightning's nature, they would retreat. Before the Sanctum and its much larger army could destroy them, the people of New Bodhum would board the ark and find a new place to live. Hope had even settled on an exact spot: the tip of a peninsula on a continent fourteen-thousand miles away. Without the technological superiority New Bodhum possessed, the Sanctum might never find it.

Serah would finally be safe and Lightning, Snow and all their exhausted allies could finally stop killing their own people.

So, two weeks ago to the day, everyone - civilians and soldiers alike - abandoned their homes and made their way into the ark. Unfortunately, one important aspect of their plan went terribly wrong: under cover of darkness, they had attempted to remove the crystal Fang and Vanille shared and load it onto the ark before Cocoon fell into the sea. But when they tried to move the crystal from its position in the center of the crystal column, it cracked right down the middle and separated the two from each other. Thankfully, it hadn't shattered - it had actually perfectly split their hands from each other's grasp - and as far as Lightning could tell, both women remained completely intact.

It was bizarre, but there was no time to dwell on it. With a lot of effort, they were able to get Vanille's crystal on-board the ark, but for some damned reason Fang's refused to budge. They tried everything to move her, but eventually an exasperated Lightning was forced to give up. Fang was still there, lying almost exactly where she had been for the last five years, inside the massive column of crystal and volcanic rock which had saved Cocoon.

_'She had always been stubborn,'_ the soldier mused as she finally reached the twenty-foot tall doors that allowed entrance to the crystal chamber.

Tonight, Lightning would visit her one last time. The instant Fang's crystal crashed back to the ground after their final attempt to move her, the soldier had sworn to herself that this was where she would make her final stand. An army of one, she would hold off the enemy for as long as she could. There was no hope of relief, no chance of a last minute reprieve, but Fang deserved to have someone protecting _her_ for a change and that was just what Lightning was going to do.

She told no one else. She hoped Serah would forgive her.

With a light press of her hand onto the palm reader, the massive obsidian doors of the chamber swung open. Soon after the fall, she'd had this place carved miles deep into the rock and crystal of the column itself, forming a sanctuary of sorts and a place for appreciative people to come pay their respects. At the time, everyone hoped that the two women would soon waken, but years had passed and nothing changed.

Well, one thing did slowly change with the passing years: Lightning began to lose her mind. Late into the night, she found herself having frequent one-sided conversations with Fang's crystal, and she avoided her sister and their old friends more and more. She realized, much too late, that she really missed having the warrior around.

Lightning stepped through the threshold, her cane tapping the black stone floor as she made her way into a room who's enormous size and domed roof always reminded her of the blitzball stadiums back on Cocoon.

Fang's blue crystal lay in the center of the chamber, still reaching for a woman who was no longer there. If the red-headed girl were ever to awaken, Lightning was certain she would be devastated. Fang and Vanille had a connection; something that the always distant soldier would probably never understand, let alone experience.

With a heavy heart, she forced the obsidian door closed, locking it from the inside as she had always done when she wanted to be alone with her thoughts.

The years had been hard on Lightning Farron. Scars marred her body practically from head to toe and she walked with a limp thanks to an ankle injury that never quite healed properly. Unfortunately, everyone had quickly discovered that the powers they had been granted as l'Cie disappeared once their focus was completed. There was no more magic to heal herself with and as the years passed, even summoning Odin became more and more difficult. Perhaps Etro was finally growing tired of her? Lightning certainly wouldn't have blamed the goddess for that. She was tired of herself too.

She took a seat on the top step leading up to the center pavilion, Fang's crystal behind her, illuminated from underneath by a circle of lights and giving the entire room a deep blue hue as though it were under the sea. Minutes passed, then hours as Lightning silently watched the crystal walls slowly change color around her one last time.

During the day, the rays of Pulse's natural sun reflected in the facets of the crystal confines of the chamber and produced the most dazzling multicolored lights. As the star fell behind the distant mountains, the room would turn from blue to red before darkening almost completely. At times like this, walking over the floor felt like stepping over an endless chasm. It was a daily reminder of the distance that now separated her from Fang, but then, even when she had truly been alive there had been a chasm of sorts between them.

Tonight, the chamber walls weren't dark. Instead, the crystal walls shone almost blood red with the lights of countless fires from New Bodhum and the towns beyond. Why the Sanctum was burning the land, she had no idea. A new Purge against advanced technology, perhaps? An elimination of everything tainted by the l'Cie's touch? She hung her head. Some things were beyond her ability to understand. She'd never had a mind for anything except fighting. Killing was all she was good at, but even so, she had never killed or destroyed things indiscriminately. Not like the Sanctum did.

Then she remembered Cocoon's fal'Cie. They were all dead now thanks to her, but had they all been like Barthendelus? Did they all deserve to die with him?

Was this indiscriminate destruction some kind of justice?

Lightning sighed and rubbed her temple. She really needed to _stop_ thinking.

Finally, there came an expected pounding at the door. Sophisticated machines built by the University did a commendable job of fooling the Sanctum into believing that New Bodhum was not deserted while the ark and their airships made their escape, but the truth was bound to come out sooner or later. Now it was almost over. Her home was burning and Lightning and Fang were the last of the 'enemy' left.

"They're almost here," Lightning said aloud, wringing her hands. She looked over her shoulder as she spoke, as if Fang was really there and not in some crystal stasis dream world. Whatever the huntress might be dreaming of at that moment, it had to be better than this, she thought. Lightning couldn't remember having a nightmare as bad as the last five years of her life. "I'm - I'm sorry we couldn't get you out." She sighed again at the knowledge that she was really only talking to herself. "I know I'm not much of a substitute for Vanille."

She'd like to think that Fang would've done the same, that the warrior would be here for Lightning if the situation were reversed, but it had been so long since she'd last seen the woman alive and the memories of those few days when they had fought side by side grew fainter by the day. Over the years, she began to wonder if she'd really known Fang at all, or if it was all in her head.

What if Fang was actually completely different from how she remembered her?

The pounding at the door grew louder. Her shoulders slumped. Lightning had promised Serah she would be on the final airship out, but in the end she couldn't do it. Fang held up Cocoon, and Lightning would protect Fang for as long as she did so.

Booming sounds came from above and below, shaking the entire chamber, splintering off pieces of crystal that surrounded the pillar and sending them crashing to the ocean far below. If the Sanctum forces weren't careful they'd end up with Cocoon falling on their heads. She wondered if they even cared anymore. Perhaps they were just as desperate for annihilation as she was?

Or perhaps their rage had blinded them? Their hatred was particularly strong for Lightning after all. Because she was in the security forces, the new Sanctum falsely considered her to be the leader of their little l'Cie insurrection. And apparently, one of the more popular rumors going around was that one of the invaders from Pulse had _seduced_ her into betraying her own people.

Ha. If only she _were_ so lucky.

Six years ago, the only thing on her mind besides her sister had been their mysterious companion, one Oerba Yun Fang from the completely alien world of Gran Pulse. Lightning had never met another woman like her, and she'd frequently find her eyes wandering in Fang's direction, observing her, trying to figure her out.

And admittedly, sometimes her eyes wandered to more specific parts of the woman's body: her powerful arms, her perpetually exposed abdomen, her nice, firm -

Lightning shook her head and blushed. Yeah, there was definitely a physical attraction there too.

Things had been so hectic in those days that they had little time alone to really speak to one another... There was simply too much to do, but they did frequently team up and when they fought side by side, the soldier always fought with a little bit more flair, a little more grace. It was completely _pathetic_. It was as if she were a thirteen-year-old trying desperately to get a girl she liked to notice her; she'd acted no better than all those boys who had tried to grab her attention back in high-school.

The truth of the matter was that the woman who decorated the walls of her bedroom with swords and patrolled the streets of Bodhum late at night had never fallen in love - not really - but that was before she met Fang. It was just what she needed. Her world had already been turned upside down by the fal'Cie, and then this exotic woman had to show up. With her focus completely on saving Vanille, Fang was a mirror image of Lightning herself, except that Fang was unpredictable, uninhibited, _wild_... just like the land she came from.

For someone from a rigidly structured world like Cocoon, meeting Fang was like being freed from a cage she hadn't known she'd been trapped in. And once she met her, Lightning couldn't imagine how anyone else could possibly compare. Fighting alongside Oerba Yun Fang filled her with a passionate fire that left her confused and aching for more.

At the time, Lightning told herself repeatedly that keeping quiet about her feelings was for the best; she had no experience with any kind of relationship, she'd never let anyone get that close, she would've embarrassed herself, it would've distracted her from her focus... the excuses she could come up with were limitless.

But then Fang had Vanille and _she_ hadn't been distracted by her presence. If anything, it made her stronger, more determined.

Lightning wondered what they really were to each other. Were they like sisters... or was there more between them? She'd never caught them in any act of intimacy. If only she had asked.

Either way, Vanille was a lucky woman.

She coughed, and her voice was still rough from weeks of little use, "I think I loved you, Fang. Maybe... Maybe if I was a stronger person I might've told you before the end." It felt silly to say such things now, but this would probably be her last chance to do so.

The enormous obsidian door shook again. Unconsciously, Lightning swallowed as her throat went dry. Ever since joining the security forces at age seventeen, she'd known that every new day could possibly be her last, but here she was staring down certain death for the first time. She would not run. She would take down every bastard that would dare harm this woman. She'd fight until she was overwhelmed.

She only hoped that she wouldn't live to see Fang's crystal form shattered into a thousand pieces.

With a heavy heart, she stood up. Leaving her cane where it lay, she ascended the final step to the raised platform and reached for her gunblade, doing her best to keep most of her weight on her left foot. The door was finally beginning to crack. She thought of Serah, her parents, even that big idiot, Snow, but like always her thoughts eventually turned back to Fang. "I should've at least kissed her," she mumbled to herself with a hint of a sardonic smile.

She was so distracted by her thoughts she barely noticed the way the walls of the chamber briefly lit up with a flash of blue light. _'Probably just another bomb,'_ she thought. Maybe the Sanctum couldn't feed its own people, but they could certainly afford to manufacture plenty of bombs. It made her sick.

"Light?"

The soldier froze, the gunblade falling to the floor with a heavy clang. That voice. It wasn't pos-

A strong hand gripped her shoulder and the familiar voice repeated her name. She turned around to find Oerba Yun Fang in the flesh, standing there and smiling warmly at her as if she had never left.

"Fang!" In her surprise she put too much weight on her right leg and stumbled. In that instant Lightning's vision went foggy and a hundred different images of the woman in front of her raced through her mind, all seemingly pulled from the deepest recesses of her imagination; she saw herself on top of the Pulsian woman, their lips locked together, strong bodies writhing against each other, an olive skinned hand running through her disheveled pink hair...

Everywhere, there was heat, and wetness, and soft skin and grasping hands.

Every inch of her burned. She wanted it all so desperately.

Then, just as quickly her eyes shot open and she gasped in shock at the vividness of what she had just seen. Her breathing was ragged and her chest burned. Maybe her heart was giving up on her, but whatever it was she had to ignore it. Now was so not the time to be thinking of those dreams...

"Whoa there, Sunshine. You all right?"

"Fang?" The name came out barely audible, like an exhalation of air. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. The warrior had a hold of her arms and gently eased her back until she was standing under her own power again. She winced in pain. Her ankle throbbed. The doctor had warned her.

Fang looked down at her foot sympathetically.

"PSICOM soldier shot me..." Lightning mumbled, replying to an unasked question.

The warrior met her gaze again with a canine-like tilt of the head, "In the _ankle_?"

"He was probably aiming for my head."

Surprisingly, Fang laughed at the weak attempt at humor.

Again the entire room shook and again Fang steadied her. Lightning knew they might not have much time. What should she say? What did she need to say before the end? "Don't worry, Vanille's safe. She's -"

"I know," Fang interrupted, her expression strangely unconcerned. The soldier's brow furrowed. She had always assumed that Vanille's name would be the first word out of Fang's mouth if she ever awoke. "She's safe, thanks to you. Everyone is."

It didn't even occur to her to ask how the woman knew Vanille was safe, let alone everyone else. She was much too busy staring into Fang's eyes. Had they always been so vibrantly green?

"You look a little beat up, Sunshine."

Even with the battle scars marring her face, Lightning was absolutely certain she felt worse than she looked.

"Here," the warrior said, running the back of her hand over Lightning's brow. The soldier gasped when she felt a wave of healing magic wash over her. The pain in her foot and the ever present ache in her muscles disappeared. It was something she hadn't felt since -

"Fang!" What she saw on the woman's upper arm turned her blood to ice: the brand of a l'Cie. _That_ was why she had been able to cast a healing spell. This brand looked nothing like Fang's old Pulsian brand, or even Cid's Sanctum one; it was circular and symmetrical with finer, more intricate designs towards the center, almost like a mandala. Something nagged at her mind; as if she should know its source but couldn't put a finger on it. A brand from neither Pulse or Cocoon... was such a thing possible?

Fang glanced at her bare shoulder but didn't seem the least bit disturbed by what she saw there. "Looks like I've got a new focus."

_'How can she be so damn nonchalant about this?'_ Lightning shook her head in disbelief. And where did the mark come from in the first place? Had a rogue fal'Cie waited all this time just to mock her with a focus she couldn't possibly have time enough to complete?

"You too, I think," Fang added, pressing a hand against Lightning's metal breastplate. That was where her old brand had been all those years ago. Immediately, the soldier was reminded of the last time Fang had checked her brand. Her cheeks went pink at the memory.

Thankfully, Fang wasn't looking at her face. "I like the new armor. Looks on good on you, yeah?"

Lightning mumbled a thanks. There came another rumble and a shard of crystal from the ceiling crashed into the floor mere yards from where they were standing. Glass splinters went scattering loudly across the chamber.

"That wasn't the soldiers outside," Fang said over the din. "Without me, the pillar is beginning to fall apart."

She gasped. How long did they have left? "Wh -" the fingers of Fang's right hand entwined themselves with her left, arresting her words. The sensation of holding hands with Fang after all these years made the hairs on the back of her neck stand straight up.

"Is there a way out of here?"

Lightning's eyes stayed locked on their joined hands and her voice came out so weak and raspy it sounded like she had sawdust in her mouth, "Only through that door."

"Guess I have no choice then."

"What are you going to do?"

The hand she was still grasping began to glow yellow. "Same thing I always do."

_'Ragnarok.'_ The legendary dragon, destined to destroy Cocoon. "Are - Are you sure about this? What about Bahamut?"

"He can't break through these walls, Sunshine. We'll need something stronger."

"But -"

"Lightning." The saying of her full name got the pink-haired woman to meet Fang's gaze again, "I don't wanna die here. Not when there's so much left to live for."

The way the woman's eyes stared deeply into her own as she said those words made Lightning think they were meant for her, but surely that was impossible. "Fang." She didn't even know what she wanted to say. What would happen if the Oerban took Ragnarok's form again? If they made it out alive would she have to watch helplessly for a second time as the woman turned to crystal?

Fang seemed to be reading her mind. "Become Ragnarok _with_ me."

At that moment, the door blew open and a shot flew past their heads. Eyes darting to her left, Fang raised a hand, throwing up a shield that sent the next shots ricocheting against the crystalline walls. Time seemed to stop as Lightning stared mesmerized into those questioning green eyes that seemed to glow with magical power, eyes that appeared to know her better than she knew herself. "Okay," she finally whispered.

The huntress' lips curved into a smile.

A strange sort of heat raced down the soldier's arm and light shone from the center of their interlocked hands. Her heart raced. Rushing blood pounded in her ears.

Fang's eyes remained locked on hers the entire time as she used her free hand to gently brush stray strands of pink hair from Lightning's eyes. "Calm down, Light. Remember to breath."

It was so very hard to do that when she was mere inches from a woman who had been occupying her mind for the last five years, but still she swallowed and nodded and did her best to at least appear outwardly calm.

That knowing smile never left Fang's face. "Good enough."

Lightning blushed horribly. Fang was reading her like a book, just as she had always done. Except this time, Lightning had no energy left to bring up her walls and hide behind them.

The warrior explored the various bits of armor with her left hand. "You really are breathtaking, you know that, Sunshine? Like a valkyrie from Pulsian legend or something."

She gasped despite herself, did Fang really think so much of her?

The shots continued and men in PSICOM uniforms were swarming into the room, but nothing they did could penetrate the barrier.

Fang's new brand began to glow as well, followed by an answering glow from underneath Lightning's breastplate.

"Let yourself go," Fang breathed, her hair and blue sari seemingly caught up in a breeze that didn't exist. "I've done this before. Just let me take the lead." The light intensified and the soldiers in the room were forced to stop firing and shield their eyes. As the world around her bled away into whiteness, the last thing Lightning saw was Fang's reassuring half-smile. "Don't worry, I promise to be gentle."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *coughs* Um, hey, remember me? Let's continue, shall we?
> 
> Ragnarok's physical form at the end of FFXIII is a combination of Fang and Vanille's eidolons (Bahamut and Hecatoncheir). So, what would a fusion of Bahamut and Odin look like? Well, it probably wouldn't look exactly like what I've described below, but it's my story *pouts*

"A Fal'Cie's Gift" by Imrryr

Chapter 2 of 3?

...

The wind howled as she pitched and rolled her newly transformed body through the sky. An endless seascape dotted with islands and reefs lay sprawled about before her; all of it, as far as she knew, untouched by human hands.

She was seeing the world through the eyes of some kind of fantastic winged creature; her body not unlike a horse's, yet with powerful leathery wings like those of a dragon. Cold air rushed over her dark, scaly skin and through her long, white mane. She flew over mountains and rivers, endless deserts and nameless jungles and reveled in how right it all felt. She was meant to fly. No airship from Cocoon could soar so quickly or so gracefully.

Her form looked nothing like the creature who had saved her floating world five years ago, but somehow Lightning knew that this was it. _She_ was Ragnarok.

In an instinctive act she could not explain, she had burst through the pillar just as it began to shatter under Cocoon's immense weight, only looking back long enough to see her former home break apart as it hit the roiling sea and crushed the city built on islands around its base. Anyone taking part in the invasion of New Bodhum would certainly have been killed by that, but the new Sanctum and the people under its rule would survive.

It was a bittersweet victory, if one could really call it victory at all.

But perhaps all her victories had been like that?

At least New Bodhum's citizens had been successfully evacuated. Though, to be sure they arrived at their new home safely, she would have to fly halfway around the world and see for herself.

Right now that seemed like a walk in the park. Her body held so much pent up energy she felt she could fly around the sun and back.

Euphoric with the sensations rushing through her powerful body, Lightning looped across the sky, unwittingly testing the limits of her speed and agility. Every time she went into a dive, her great haste triggered a sonic boom that resounded through the air behind her.

She was free of Cocoon's tight confines, free of the Sanctum's ideological and military grip, and free of prisons both seen and unseen; prisons she fought against and prisons she had not even been aware she'd been trapped in. She had never felt so liberated.

She wanted to be this free forever.

_'Know where you're goin', Sunshine?'_

_'F - Fang?!'_

She turned her massive head from side to side and saw nothing but the clouds rushing past.

_'I'm right here. With you.'_

Lightning would never be able to adequately describe it, but there was an unfamiliar warmth caressing and encircling her mind and she knew she wasn't alone. Fang was there, inside Ragnarok, sharing its mind with her somehow. Without knowing why, she felt guided to the east, so she dipped her right wing and steered herself in that direction; towards the quickly rising sun.

_'Feel that?'_ Fang asked.

_'Was that you just now, telling me where to go?'_

_'Yeah. You're figuring it out pretty quickly. I didn't want assert myself too soon. Figured I'd let you get comfortable in our new skin first.'_

She'd forgotten that Fang had already taken Ragnarok's form twice before. _'Oh, thanks, I guess,'_ Lightning mumbled. If anyone was an expert on what it was like to become an enormous flying instrument of destruction, it was Oerba Yun Fang.

The thought made her wonder, ' _If we're both in control, why can't I feel you guiding us? Shouldn't you be?'_

_'I had a feeling you'd want to be the dominant personality here.'_ Fang said, adopting a familiar teasing tone.

Growling, Lightning bristled and unbidden bolts of electricity traveled up and down her body, from head to tail. She could practically _feel_ the other woman smiling at her. It was always like that when Fang was around.

_'Don't worry,'_ the huntress continued, _'I_ _ **like**_ _strong-minded women.'_

Narrowing your eyes wasn't a very effective visual cue when the person you were annoyed with was sharing your body. Lightning tried grumbling instead, _'Fang...'_

_'I could hear you, you know?'_

_'Huh?'_

_'When I was in crystal stasis_ _,_ _I could hear you speaking to me.'_ There was a pause. _'Every single time.'_

_'Oh?_ _ **Oh**_ _...'_ Quickly, a hundred of those 'conversations' she'd had with the crystallized woman over the past five years went racing through her mind. She had said some things that she couldn't imagine telling _anyone_ face to face; not her deceased parents, not Serah and certainly not Fang.

_'You're an amazing woman, Light. I've always thought so.'_

_'Thanks,'_ she mumbled again. Lightning could feel the huntress everywhere. There was no escaping her, no running as she would almost certainly have done under more normal circumstances, like, if say she weren't a dragon-horse flying ten-thousand feet in the air and sharing a mind with a woman she'd been obsessing over for the last five years, for example.

' _Does this mean you can read my mind?'_

There was an agonizingly long pause before Fang finally answered, _'Yep.'_

In her frantic effort to avoid thinking about anything embarrassing, Lightning thought of something embarrassing: something that had stayed emblazoned in her memory ever since it happened.

Five years had passed, yet that one short moment was as fresh in her mind as the sight of the crystal pillar holding up Cocoon, or the expression on her sister's face when they had last said goodbye.

* * *

"I think I'm gonna be sick!"

That was the last thing Lightning heard Hope say before he ran off to get away from the sight of Sazh and Vanille slicing up a gorgonopsid for dinner.

Admittedly, it wasn't a pleasant business, but it was the first real meat they'd had in days and not even the sight of a young girl enthusiastically gutting a smelly Pulsian beast was going to make Lightning forget just how hungry she was. If she lived through this, she vowed never to eat another one of those awful Guardian Corps ration bars ever again.

"No, you can't eat a megistotherian," Vanille was saying as the smell of cooking meat wafted through the dimly lit cavern. "It has poisons in its blood that will stop your heart in less than an hour. Unless you're a member of the Xiu Clan, of course. They feed the creature's blood to their children from a young age so they eventually become immune." Lightning frowned as she listened. Vanille's voice retained that perky tone no matter what the subject, apparently.

Sazh, meanwhile, visibly shivered as he flipped the steaks over on the magically heated rock, "What about these gorga-whatevers? They're not poisonous too, are they?"

"Nope!" Vanille chirped happily. "Well, not until they reach their fifth year at least."

The former pilot paused in his steak flipping. "And, uh, just how old was this guy?"

" _She_ was maybe three or four. Their coats turn brown when they reach breeding age."

"Ah."

As the two chatted, Lightning's eyes instinctively darted from rock to rock and from crag to crag, looking for threats as well as spots that might make suitable places to sleep or defensible positions from which to hold up. The possibility of attack was never far from her mind.

Everything appeared to be quiet for the time being. They had to get on their hands and knees to reach this part of the cavern - Snow had only barely managed to squeeze himself through - so she reasoned that the larger of Pulse's many beasts wouldn't be able to follow.

High above in the ceiling of the cave were holes through which those strange stars that hovered over Pulse could be seen, but despite the darkness outside, finding one's way around the cave was relatively easy. In every direction there were crystal formations that gave off a blue light which mimicked the eerie color of the Archlyte Steppe in the early evening when the shell of Cocoon was still reflecting the sun's rays back to the ground.

"Vanille, maybe you should go find Fang and let her know dinner is almost ready."

"No!" the girl squeaked, causing the soldier to spin on her heels in surprise. "Lightning should do it!"

That earned her raised eyebrows from everyone and a tilted head from Sazh's chocobo chick.

Vanille blushed heavily. "I - uh - just mean, I should stay here with you, Pops, and make sure you don't overcook it. Fang likes hers bloody."

Sazh looked offended, "Hey, I've _never_ had any complaints about my -"

" _Fine_ ," Lightning interrupted sharply, her ever-present irritation accidentally coming out through her voice. "Fine... I'll do it."

As she stomped away, the soldier thought she heard Vanille give a little cheer. She shook her head in confusion. That girl was odd.

...

It had been the end of a long day of marching through the seemingly endless Mah'habara Subterra with its numerous Pulsian constructs blocking the way at seemingly every turn. She had hated the place; the Subterra had been dark, cold and damp and in her ever-present exhaustion this new place seemed little better. Thus, Lightning was not at all prepared for what she saw when she finally reached the warm upper springs that Vanille had directed her towards.

It took her breath away. Dozens of heated pools lay before her, many illuminated from below by more of those strange glowing crystals, some blue, some green, some violet; this natural cavern held a beauty that matched anything to be found on Cocoon.

But it was the next thing she noticed that sent her pulse racing and sucked every last bit of moisture from her mouth: Fang's spear, beaded jewelry and clothes all piled in a heap, and the woman's naked form lying mostly submerged in a steaming pool of water, her back to Lightning.

If she took a few more steps forward, the soldier would no longer need to imagine what Fang looked like naked. Not that she would ever wonder about such a thing, she reminded herself.

"Hey there, Sunshine."

Lightning tensed. Again with that damned nickname, and how did Fang even know it was her? She grumbled to herself. When it came to Oerba Yun Fang, the soldier could've sworn she was back in grade school, getting her hair pulled by some boy who secretly had a crush on her.

Even more irritating was how she was almost beginning to enjoy it.

The woman slowly turned around and Lightning immediately averted her eyes before she saw anything she shouldn't. _'Dammit,'_ the soldier thought, _'Do Pulsians have no shame?'_

"You should join me," Fang casually offered. "These pools were famous for their healing properties back in my day."

Lightning finally worked up the courage to meet her gaze again. Thankfully, only the tops of her shoulders were showing above the water. She didn't think she could take seeing any more of the woman without blushing like a teenager.

Met only with silence, Fang's tone turned more serious, "You never take a break, do you?"

The soldier huffed. Take a break while they all wore the brand of a fal'Cie?

Fang sighed and there was a hint of sadness to it. "You'll be no use to your sister if you're so exhausted I end up having to carry you to Eden."

Again she bristled, both at the wisdom of that statement and the fact that she had completely forgotten why she had come up here in the first place. Lightning crossed her arms and concentrated on the hands resting on the rocky edge of the pool. They were crossed with scars. They belonged to someone who had been fighting all her life. No one from the paradise of Cocoon had hands like that. Why was that so damn intriguing?

Lost in thought, Lightning didn't even notice when Fang began pushing herself out of the pool until she suddenly realized she was staring at the dark hair between the woman's legs. Her eyes shot up to Fang's, who stared back with that familiar grin on her face like she had just snared Lightning in a trap. The soldier could only gape at the audacity of it all, and Fang had the nerve to just keep standing there, naked and dripping wet, before beginning to stretch her arms like she was showing off her admittedly impressive naked form.

And the worst part? Lightning just kept standing there too, feet glued to the floor, gawking at what she was seeing, her pulse racing.

And it all went on far too long for her to convince herself she wasn't interested.

Before Fang could utter another word, Lightning finally regained enough of her composure and stormed off in a huff. The walk back apparently did little to sooth her because when she returned to the camp Sazh looked frightened, Vanille looked strangely embarrassed, and Snow looked like he was worried he was about to get punched in the jaw again.

Wordlessly, Lightning speared a waiting slab of steak with her survival knife, found a secluded spot where no Oerban temptresses could bother her, and bit into the meat like she was taking all her frustrations out on it.

Two days would pass before she so much as spoke to the warrior again.

Fang, completely naked with rivulets of water running down her chest; that was all Lightning could see whenever she shut her eyes. Just how was she supposed to get an image like _that_ out of her head?

* * *

She heard Fang give a soft laugh, _'I_ _ **knew**_ _you were interested.'_

Even after five long years, the subject was still a sore one, but she could laugh at it now, especially now that she was no longer trying to hide her true feelings. Not that such a thing was even possible given her current state. 'I didn't know if I wanted to punch you or jump you.' Again, not that she would've known what to do if she had done the latter.

Lightning cringed when she remembered that Fang would've heard that line of thought just as well as anything else that came to her mind.

Thankfully, Fang ignored it. _'It's not such a big deal on Gran Pulse... being naked, I mean.'_

Lightning wasn't surprised to learn that. She could imagine that relationships would be a lot less complicated on a world where most people ended up as fodder for the fal'Cie at a young age. That old cliché, 'life's too short', would never be more true than it had been on Pulse.

_'I wasn't in the right mindset,'_ the soldier reluctantly admitted. A fling with the young huntress had simply been out of the question. At the time, every thought she had about Fang felt like a betrayal of her mission, a betrayal of Serah. There was no time for romance when her entire world was falling apart. _'Maybe if it had happened some other time...'_ Like before she became a soldier, maybe.

Again, she felt that reassuring, comforting presence. _'Can't say I wasn't hoping you would join me in that pool.'_

Her mind automatically conjured up an image of that scenario and her entire body shuddered as it continued through the air.

' _Light?'_

She pictured Fang's expert fingers massaging her aching back; strong arms pulling her backwards until she was pressed tightly against the woman's chest. The huntress' hot, ragged breaths in her ear whispering words in that exotic accent of hers and doing far more to make Lightning sweat than the heat of the pool. Hands circling possessively around her waist, rubbing circles in her flesh just below the belly button, then moving slowly downwards until -

' _Light!'_

Her eyes shot open. Hmm. The ground was closer than she remembered it being.

_'We don't have much time,'_ Fang said. _'Ragnarok's power is only temporary.'_

Lightning could feel the truth in that statement. Her vision was beginning to cloud, her energy was draining. She felt herself descending though she tried to fight it. _'What happens next?'_ Would they return to their human forms?

_'I don't really know.'_

Is this what it feels like to die? _'Fang?'_

_'Don't be so dramatic, girlie. This isn't the end.'_

She took unexpected comfort in that. Lightning couldn't remember the last time she had felt safe, but she did right now. Would they become crystal statues together as Fang and Vanille had done? That wouldn't be so bad, would it? Serah and her friends were safe on the other side of the world and Lightning would be with Fang.

_'I'll take it from here,'_ the voice said. Lightning felt everything slipping away, she tried to stay awake but couldn't. As the ground grew closer and closer she felt drawn into the waiting darkness of sleep. _'Don't worry, Light. I've got ya.'_

...

The last thing she expected was to wake up on a beach, but if nothing else, Lightning was slowly coming to realize that she needed to stop expecting things where Fang was involved. The woman was simply unpredictable.

It was a wild, Pulsian beach, scattered with seashells, driftwood and seaweed. The waves crashed heavily on the sandy shore and though the sun was hot, a strong wind blew cool air in from the sea.

It made the beaches of Bodhum look positively dull and sterile by comparison.

Fang was lying next to her in the sand, sleeping as though it were the most normal thing to be doing at that particular moment.

Lightning blinked. The alien brand was still easily visible on Fang's arm. It didn't look any different, but then she didn't know how to read it. Was it progressing?

She felt foolish for hoping it would just disappear. Running away from certain death wasn't exactly likely to be their focus, was it? Perhaps a rogue Pulse fal'Cie wanted all of the people of Cocoon dead? Perhaps it thought Fang and Lightning would be its last hope?

There was no way to know now.

She knelt over the sleeping woman and shook her shoulder. Fang looked so beautiful just lying there, dressed exactly as she had been over five years ago when they'd first met. Lightning tried not to think about how she'd often dreamt of having the other woman in a situation just like this.

Brilliant green eyes slowly opened and blinked up at her. "Light?" Her rough voice made it sound like she'd been out of it for a while.

"Fang!" Lightning cringed inwardly at how distressed she sounded.

The warrior pushed herself up. "Shh... It's all right. You're safe, I'm safe, everyone's safe."

"No!" she insisted, still sounding far more upset than she would've liked. "We're _not_. You still have the brand."

Fang turned her head and studied the alien mark. A flicker of sadness touched her face, but she looked nowhere near as disturbed as Lightning felt. "What about you?"

"Oh, um..." She didn't know. Lightning sat back and turned her body to face away from the woman. It was going to be difficult to check. "Can you help me with this?" she asked, looking over her shoulder and indicating her chestplate.

The dark-haired woman grinned. "Thought you'd never ask." She scooted forward until Lightning was practically in her lap and then began nimbly unfastening every strap. "Bloody hell, does everything made on Cocoon have to be so complicated?"

Lightning chuckled softly. She had her eyes closed, surreptitiously enjoying the feeling of Fang's bare legs brushing against her thighs; long, nimble fingers finally working the breast plate loose until it fell to the sand leaving just an undershirt. The soldier grabbed the zipper at the top, but those hands stopped her.

"Hey, now," Fang said, speaking directly into her ear in a way that made Lightning forget who she was. "Let me."

Breathlessly, she complied.

Achingly slowly, Fang dragged the zipper down over her breast and abdomen until finally the garment opened. Without a word, the woman coaxed the shirt over Lightning's shoulders and let it fall to the ground.

Lightning felt like she was going to die. The last person who had tried to touch her like this ended up with a black eye, but here she was letting this warrior from Pulse just do anything she pleased.

Fang's warm hands found their way to her shoulders. "Light?"

"Hmm?"

"Let me see?"

It took all of her nerve to nod and turn around while still sitting in Fang's lap, her blue eyes locked on the rolling ocean to her right; she couldn't bear to look the woman in the eyes, not while she was exposed like this.

"Just as I thought."

She was afraid to even ask. "What?"

"You're a goddess."

"Tch." Lightning's blush reached down to her collarbone and she covered herself with her arms as best she could. "Is it still there?"

"Yeah," Fang said, sounding a little breathless herself. "Not sure how to read it though. I've never seen a brand like this before."

Lightning sighed.

"We'll figure it out, Light, whatever it is."

She met Fang's eyes with a sidelong glance. "Together, huh?"

"Yeah. We made a good team last time, didn't we?"

Lightning shook her head but smiled despite herself.

" _Damn_."

Another glance. " _What_?"

"You have no idea how beautiful you are, do you?"

She shook her head and again had to look away. In her twenty-six years numerous suitors had told her she was beautiful, of course, but up until this moment she had never really cared. It was disturbing how much it pleased her that Fang thought so.

The warrior's right hand snaked its way around her neck. "Don't be shy," she whispered.

When she summoned the nerve to look at the Pulsian again, Lightning found their lips were mere inches apart. "Fang?"

Fang's callused fingers stroked her neck as if to calm her. "Been wanting to try something for a while."

Lightning could only nod in reply. The warrior's piercing green eyes were so mesmerizing. Back in Oerba, Fang might've gotten a hundred girls to kiss her using those eyes alone, but Lightning couldn't bring herself to care if she was Fang's first, or one-hundred and first.

Her heart pounding just as hard as it had when she had fought Orphan, their lips met and Lightning's entire body quickly began to burn. She had planned for it to be brief and chaste but before she knew it her tongue was tangling with Fang's own. Gasping, Lightning unconsciously straddled the warrior's hips as the kiss intensified, her hands grasping desperately at the woman's back as she sought to draw her in closer. Every inch of her was on fire. She hadn't expected this; she hadn't expected to lose herself so completely once she finally gave in.

Lightning wanted to tear off every remaining piece of armor she was wearing just so she could feel this amazing woman against every inch of skin.

And underneath the soldier's assault, Fang purred.

Neither woman noticed as the crystal enveloped them.

* * *

Oerba Dia Vanille

* * *

At first it seemed like she was just having another nightmare. After all, she'd been having them for Maker knows how long now.

And that wasn't an exaggeration. She really had no idea how long she'd been having them.

Normally, it was impossible to gauge just how much time passed while you were in crystal stasis. What felt like an hour's blissful dreaming in crystal sleep might translate to a day in the real world, or perhaps just a minute, or maybe even a year. There was simply no way to tell. After all, Vanille had spent over five-hundred years in crystal sleep, but in no way had it felt as long as all that.

Maybe a few weeks, or months at _most_ , but not five-hundred years. No way. She would've gone mad. Surely, ever her imaginative powers combined with Fang's wouldn't have sufficed her that long.

The passing months and years of her second crystal sleep were much easier to follow, however. Unlike her first experience, this time she and Fang had a regular visitor to their crystals in the form of one Lightning Farron.

In their days together as fugitive l'Cie, Fang had been skeptical, but Vanille just _knew_ that the taciturn soldier had been interested in her friend. The sidelong glances when she thought Fang wasn't looking, the blushing... it was all so cute!

As they both listened to Lightning's reports on life after the fall of Cocoon, Vanille took no small pleasure in ribbing her best friend over the soldier's increasingly obvious signs of attraction; the way she spoke primarily to Fang, the way her eyes would linger on the huntress' crystallized form as she spoke. It was so rare to see Fang look embarrassed, but it was impossible for even a girl as stubborn as her to disbelieve the signs anymore.

Vanille had been right, and there was no way she wasn't going to revel in it.

However, as Lightning's reports grew worse and worse, so did Fang's own mental state. Her friend wanted out of this dream so desperately, but try as she might there was simply no way.

So, they both watched helplessly as Lightning looked more and more exhausted and spoke to them less and less often, sometimes only coming into the crystal chamber to stare at Fang's frozen body for some time before leaving without a word.

It was heartbreaking.

And what was worse? As the outside world went to war, time began to slow in the dream world. Fang would sit there for hours simply watching as Lightning suffered and quickly grew older before her very eyes.

Then came the faintest of hopes: Lightning's stated plan to remove Vanille and Fang from their crystal chamber and take them away to safety. Naturally, they both would've preferred to simply wake up and spare the former l'Cie all the effort, but since that was not possible, this was better than nothing. At least, away from the war, maybe Lightning would have a chance at some kind of happiness.

Even if it wasn't with Fang.

Unfortunately, it was not to be. When the day finally came, something unexpected happened during the moving process and Vanille was suddenly cast into the dark without the reassuring presence of her constant companion. She tried to look out, to see the world beyond her crystal form, but there was nothing but inky blackness.

Had Fang awoken? Had something happened to her crystal, or to Vanille's own?

There was no way to know.

For the first time since their brief stay on Cocoon, Vanille was completely alone.

Still, she wasn't the kind of person to fall in despair, and her solitary life in crystal stasis actually wasn't too bad at first, but before long her formerly paradisaical dreams began taking dark turns. There were visions of Cocoon falling into the ocean below with all its inhabitants, just as Anima had desired when she was first branded over five-hundred years ago. Visions of children left parentless by the whims of a fal'Cie yearning for annihilation.

Tens of millions were supposed to die, but they had changed all of that. Hadn't they?

It was so hard to remember.

And then there were the monsters: horrible perversions of beings native to Gran Pulse; beings genetically altered by humans just like the ones she had seen in Cocoon's wildlands. Soon she was dreaming of fighting them instead of lying comfortably on the grassy fields of home.

But it was still all just a dream. The monsters never killed her. She never gained so much as a scratch until -

_thud._

Vanille blinked. It was dark, the smooth ground beneath her was hard and cold and her back ached.

She groaned and cradled her head in her hands for a moment. For a second she thought she was going to faint, but the feeling quickly passed. As she struggled to push herself back onto her feet, the young girl froze when she suddenly realized the significance of what she was feeling.

The ground was cold.

Her back ached.

In all her years of dreaming she had never felt either one of those sensations. Even during the worst of her fantasies, Vanille was always warm and had never encountered the slightest bit of physical pain. It was strange how easy it was to forget such things even existed when you weren't reminded of them on a daily basis.

In a hurry, she stumbled forward until she collided with a metal wall.

Clutching her binding rod in one hand, Vanille pounded on what she assumed was a door until she accidentally found and hit the activation switch and fell out into the hallway.

The hall was cavernous, but though dimly lit, Vanille knew instantly where she was. "The ark!" she cried out, bouncing up and down with excitement. It was just as Lightning had described it. Surely she would find someone she knew... but where would they be? After all, Gran Pulsian Arks were enormous and this one was stuffed with what looked like the possessions of thousands of families.

She needn't have worried. The people she sought found her instead.

"Vanille?"

Spinning on her heels, she was greeted by very familiar older man with a shocked look on his face. "Sazh!"

...

Everyone had survived.

Those conversations Lightning had with her and Fang weren't just bizarre dreams, no, they were _real_. In what felt like a whirlwind, she was reunited with Snow, Hope and Serah, and introduced to Dajh and Serah's two young children... but Lightning wasn't among them, and neither was Fang.

From Serah she heard the story about what transpired when they'd tried to pull the two Oerbans out of the pillar. And then she learned how Lightning was supposed to be on the last airship out, but just before the ship took off the soldier had handed off a note to the ship's captain to be given to Serah. All it said was that she was sorry and that she would be staying behind to watch over Fang until the end.

The former l'Cie seemed to expect her to take the news of Fang's likely death hard, but Vanille just knew that if anyone could make it out of there alive, it would be Fang. Her friend would wake up when Lightning needed her the most. She knew it.

Days later, it was practically confirmed. Telecasts from the Sanctum showed something breaking out of the crystal pillar just before it collapsed. It was hard to distinguish, but it _had_ to be Ragnarok. Both of them were alive! It was so damn romantic that Vanille vowed to tease Fang mercilessly about it for the rest of her days if they ever found her.

But first there was much work to do. Months followed before the Cocoon refugees had firmly established themselves in their new home, but eventually things were secure enough for Hope to turn his attention to finding some way to search for their two lost friends. He found the solution thanks to a shard of the crystal column that Snow had taken as a souvenir. Vanille didn't understand the science behind it, but that shard made it possible for Hope to search for signals with similar properties.

If Lightning and Fang had been crystallized after becoming Ragnarok - as Fang and Vanille had been - then Hope should be able to track them.

Vanille volunteered for every expedition they sent out looking for Fang and Lightning. They tracked down a signal almost immediately, but quickly realized just how hard their quest was really going to be. What they found was the long abandoned crystal statue of some ancient, nameless resident of Gran Pulse.

Hope estimated that the man had been frozen in that spot for over seven-hundred years.

Later that night, when Hope brought Vanille up to the bridge of the airship he called the Phoenix, Vanille finally understood the magnitude of the task before them. In the center of the bridge was a rotating holographic map of Gran Pulse; all six-hundred-million square kilometers of it. Each blue flashing dot represented a possible signal from a crystal statue.

There were thousands of dots.

Her shoulders slumped. She could be looking for Fang and Lightning for the rest of her life.

* * *

Lightning Farron

* * *

In the periphery of her mind, Lightning realized that she could no longer hear the crash of the waves or feel the rush of the salty wind through her hair as she hungrily kissed the woman beneath her, but there were way more important things to think about at that moment.

Fang had a hand on her breast, but the soldier didn't exactly mind; certainly not as long as the woman didn't say anything about the way her nails were digging into the Pulsian's back.

_'Fang. Fang. Fang.'_ Her mind repeated the name like a mantra, as if she couldn't believe this was really happening. But it _was_ real; she was really doing this. She was kissing Oerba Yun Fang and Fang was actually kissing her back; exceptionally well, in fact.

When they finally broke apart for breath, they rested their foreheads against each other. Her lack of experience had been a concern, but judging by Fang's glistening, kiss swollen lips, and the way Fang was still grasping at her, oh so tightly, it was apparent that the soldier was picking things up rather quickly.

They both smiled at each other as they gasped for air but it wasn't long before Fang turned her attention to Lightning's neck, burying her nose in that soft, pink hair that was a fair bit longer than it had been five years ago.

Despite the sensations playing havoc with her concentration, Lightning had just enough awareness to see that this wasn't the same beach. Much smaller waves gently lapped the shore now; the smell of seaweed had vanished. A wooden pier jutted out into the water. Hotels lined the shore. Somehow, this was the beach at Bodhum where she used to go and watch the fireworks festival.

"Fang?"

"Mmm?"

"Wh – What's happening?" Concerned, the huntress leaned back to take in her surroundings. Lightning glanced at Fang's arm and gasped. The brand was gone.

At her shocked exclamation, Fang turned her head but smiled when she saw what the woman was looking at. "I guess that means we completed our focus."

"So, where are we then?"

Fang quickly returned to nuzzling the soldier's neck. "In a dream world, of course."

"So, you're saying we're -" she inhaled sharply when Fang began nibbling at the skin there, "- in crystal _stasis_?" Lightning was horrified when the last word came out with an embarrassing squeak.

Sharp teeth grazed their way up to her ear. "Mmmhmm," Fang murmured.

"Wait," Lightning said sharply. "Are you telling me our focus was to _make out_?"

She could feel the warrior's smile against her skin. "Looks like it."

Lightning huffed. Somewhere out there was a fal'Cie with way too much time on its hands. "So, how can I be sure _you're_ real?"

"I understand your doubts," Fang murmured in between nibbles, "but imagine how _I_ feel. If you had a half-naked Lightning Farron on your lap, you'd think you were dreaming too."

" _Tch_."

Fang grinned again. "I'm real. Trust me," came her more serious reply. "And you," she continued, her hands splaying over Lightning's firm abdomen, " _you_ are definitely real."

The soldier let out a moan that reddened her cheeks when she heard it. At this rate, Fang wouldn't even need to get the rest of her armor off. Maybe it was a good thing that she had kept her feelings hidden from Fang all those years ago if she could muster so little control over herself once finally in the woman's clutches.

Ages ago, Vanille had told them stories about what the Pulsians thought of Cocoon. They believed that people were lured there with the promise of eternal paradise. Clearly, the girl was mistaken. It was definitely the _Pulsians_ who were the ones skilled at luring...

"It's hard to explain," Fang continued, "but the people we imagine here don't have that spark in their eyes. When you look into them you just know something is missing. Try it. Imagine another me," Lightning stared back at her, her expression confused. Fang gently patted her shoulder, "for comparison purposes, I mean."

Lightning did so. It took a moment, but one second there was nothing but her, Fang, the beach and the ocean, and the next there was a second Fang sitting cross-legged in the sand right beside her, looking her over with a mix of amusement and approval.

"See?"

She _did_ see. This other Fang was almost identical to the real thing. Everything was perfect... but maybe she was _too_ perfect. There were no blemishes, no battle scars, nothing to mar the woman's olive skin. And the eyes... there was nothing in them that reminded her of the Fang she had fallen in love with. Those green irises elicited no sense of danger, nothing that made Lightning feel vulnerable. There was no ever-present feeling that the woman was reading her like an open book.

"You can create as many of me as want," the huntress offered. "Technically, it's not cheating."

Her doppelganger grinned. "I like the way I think."

Lightning rolled her eyes even as her throat went dry. "Ha. Is this your dream or mine?"

"Both. Since our crystals are joined we can share the dreams we have. I've shared many with Vanille."

' _Oh, right.'_ Their crystals probably _were_ joined, weren't they? Joined at the mouth.

Lightning blanched harder at the predatory smiles on both women's faces. "I don't think I can handle more than one Fang," she admitted.

In an instant, 'Dream Fang' vanished but not before giving a hurt looking pout.

The soldier shook her head. Fang seemed to be watching her intently, wondering what she would do or say next. "So, this is what you lived through for hundreds of years?"

Fang shrugged. "I still don't remember anything from my first crystal sleep but everything from the second time around is as clear as a bell."

"What did you do for those five years?"

"Vanille and I would talk... and we would dream of the old days on Gran Pulse. Didn't really feel anything like five years though."

Lightning felt horribly stupid for asking - like she was a lovelorn teenager or something - but she asked anyway, "Did you dream about me?"

"No."

_'Oh...'_ She wasn't the romantic sort, but that really wasn't the answer she hoped for. Lightning made to stand, but strong hands kept her firmly on Fang's lap.

Fang's eyes were saying 'let me finish.' "I _couldn't_ dream of you, Light. I- I just couldn't."

The soldier's own eyes asked the question, _'Why not?'_

"Because I knew it was a _lie_ ," Fang said, her expression as sincere as Lightning had ever seen it. Her fingers were digging into Lightning's shoulders. "Can you imagine living an imaginary life with someone you desperately want to see again, all the while knowing that your happiness isn't real. That the woman you truly want to be with is still out there, suffering?"

Lightning slumped in Fang's lap. She hadn't considered any of that. She thought she should really just stick to stabbing things... clearly, romantic human interaction was simply beyond her.

Those fingers were now rubbing comforting circles on Lightning's lower back, threatening to travel even lower. "I couldn't imagine sitting here like this with you if it wasn't really you looking back at me."

And as quick as that, the soldier was back to blushing again. "But you wanted to, I take it?"

"Every second."

Her cheeks burned more fiercely. What was it about this woman? Every hint of approval Fang gave her brought out reactions from her body that she simply couldn't hide.

"When you stood by my crystal and spoke to me from the real world, I was always there to listen. So was Vanille, actually. Though sometimes she had to excuse herself when your monologues got a bit... _personal_."

_'Oh, Maker...'_

Fang's expression brightened. "Hey, nothing to be embarrassed about. I was floored when I found out, of course. Never thought I would be so lucky. I only wish I could've woken myself up sooner."

"You didn't have control over when you woke up?"

"No. Not that I didn't try, of course. It was hard to just sit there when I could see how much you were hurting, ya know?"

It felt like an enormous weight had been taken off her chest. Five years of accumulated self-doubt and worry vanishing with just a few words. The two women sat there in the warm sunlight just staring at each other for a long while.

"We're stuck here then?" Lightning finally asked, any lingering bitterness gone from her voice. She could think of worse places to be trapped than where she was right now.

The huntress looked down at where Lightning was sitting in her lap and then met her gaze again. She grinned wickedly. Apparently, Fang was thinking the same thing.

Satisfied, but unsure of how to proceed, Lightning elected to change the subject. "So, I can do whatever I want in this dream world?"

The huntress nodded sharply. "Yeah, whatever you like."

Still feeling a gentle breeze at her back, Lightning smiled when she merely had to think of her missing breastplate and it reappeared on her chest, perfectly polished and without a single dent or scratch.

"Aww... that's no fun," Fang whined.

Shaking her head in amusement, Lightning stood and smiled down at the pouting woman. She expected to have sand in all sorts of annoying places, but her leg-plates and boots were as clean and sand-free as if they had been brand new. _'A dream world indeed.'_ Everything was perfect here.

_Fang was here._

The still-present breeze no longer chilled her skin. "Come on," she said, extending a hand. "Show me one of these dreams of yours."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, true story: in the grand tradition of every multi-chapter fanfic I've ever attempted, what was supposed to be one chapter ended up going on for so damn long that I had to cut it in half. In the end, "A Fal'Cie's Gift" might end up being four chapters instead of three. We'll see what happens, I guess (._.)
> 
> Unfortunately, I don't know when you can expect the next update. Sigh... so many fics I want to write, so little time.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got stuck at the 4000 word mark several weeks ago, but the one-two punch of "Fangrai February" and "Femslash February" inspired me to try and keep going ^^

"A Fal'Cie's Gift" by Imrryr

Chapter 3 of 4

...

Lightning took a surprised step back as the entire world transformed before her eyes. Bodhum's sandy beaches morphed fluidly into a miniature landscape of vaguely familiar rolling hills, which then began expanding and spreading outward in every direction like ripples of water fleeing a freshly dropped stone.

And as the hills grew to their proper, life-sized proportions, a growing roar caught both women's attention. Lightning's face turned ashen when she looked over her shoulder and saw an enormous breaking wave so tall that it blocked out the sky. Instinctively, she pulled Fang to her, but just as the advancing wave should've struck, it dissolved into a cloud which fell harmlessly over them.

Sheepishly, Lightning and Fang disentangled themselves but kept their fingers interlocked.

Just in case.

When the veil finally lifted and blue sky could be seen again, all but the highest mountain peaks in the newly-formed valley below were lost under a thick blanket of clouds. Clouds which had just moments ago formed the gentle waves of the sea.

The soldier blinked in disbelief. It might take an eternity to get used to living in a fantasy-world. Her surroundings looked and felt completely real and permanent, yet every inch of terrain had the potential to shift into absolutely anything, and all at her merest whim.

Although, considering how Bodhum's long lost seashore had spontaneously appeared to her just minutes ago, perhaps it wasn't even necessary for her to make a conscious decision before the entire world transformed like this.

That was a scary thought.

Lightning shook her head. There would be no need to travel to wherever her desires might lead; in crystal stasis everything she wanted would come to her.

Limitless possibilities lay before her, and though she wouldn't admit it, Lightning felt a little overwhelmed by the idea. How do you deal with such enormous freedom when you haven't taken so much as a day off in five years?

By now, the clouds were beginning to burn off and the light of the rising Pulsian sun was reflecting intensely off the thick layers of white crystalline sand coating the hills beyond. Lightning certainly had no trouble recognizing the place; she had seen almost this exact same landscape from the top Taejin's Tower. It was practically engraved into her mind.

And the moment those memories appeared, the remaining clouds began to part, revealing the taller towers of the city of Oerba itself.

The winds picked up and instinctively the soldier grimaced. She knew that the fine, windswept grains of crystal sand should be burning her eyes right now - as they had so many years ago when the l'Cie had all walked the path to Oerba together - but strangely she felt nothing remotely unpleasant this time. Instead, everything seemed warm, safe, nonthreatening... as though she were sitting on her sofa watching a holovid, or admiring a painting in an art gallery.

Indeed, the blowing sand seemed to be passing right through her, and not even staring deeply into the bright Pulsian sun seemed to hurt her eyes.

In fact, the only thing that felt truly real in this world was her right hand, its fingers still entwined with Fang's own. Lightning's cheeks flushed with the realization that her palms were getting rather clammy. It was a vivid and embarrassing reminder that despite the soldier's fantastic surroundings, Fang's presence was still very much real.

Then, bit by bit, the sand disappeared, long-dead trees bloomed to life and ruined buildings reassembled themselves. Lightning watched in awe from her shared perch on an outcropping of rock as Oerba transformed back into the city it must have been over five-hundred years ago. Instead of cie'th, people could be seen walking its streets, smoke poured out of its chimneys, and trains ran across a long bridge that Lightning had only ever known as a wreck. Her companion was smiling wistfully at the sight, her bright, green eyes distinctly watery.

"Fang?" The huntress met Lightning's gaze with a sidelong glance. "I never told you how sorry I was about what happened."

Fang smiled sadly and squeezed Lightning's hand in response.

"Do you miss it?" the soldier continued, her voice barely above a whisper. She couldn't help but ask. Much of Oerba's destruction came about after Ragnarok destroyed Cocoon's shell. Did Fang have regrets about what she had done?

The huntress shook her head and smiled. With her thumb, she absently rubbed small circles on the back of Lightning's hand.

All the moisture had left her throat ages ago. She had been forced to adapt to many changes in her short life, but was it possible to adapt to being in the constant presence of a woman who made her heart race with the simplest of actions?

To the soldier's embarrassment, her voice still didn't sound quite right, "So, this was a dream of yours?"

Fang continued to stare off into the distance for a long while before finally meeting the soldier's gaze again. Still smiling, she turned her attention to their still joined hands. "Yeah," she said simply, eyes sparkling.

It took a second for Lightning to fully understand what Fang was implying and when it hit her she flushed pinker than her hair. Feeling profoundly foolish, Lightning quickly extracted her hand and turned away in a huff. It was all so pathetic; she'd had her tongue in the other woman's mouth just a few minutes ago...

Without another word, the scenery changed again and Lightning found herself standing in the very center of Oerba itself, Fang still by her side. Hundreds of people were milling about; shopping, playing, working. If it hadn't been for the distinctive architecture and the strange clothes the people here wore, the soldier might've thought she was in Palumpolum. "This place is so peaceful," she remarked casually. Moments later it struck her that all of these people would one day become cie'th. Her heart sank.

Fang missed Lightning's change in mood, "What?" she asked with noticeable humor in her voice. "Did you expect to see us all sitting around a campfire grunting at each other? Maybe ripping the meat off bones with our teeth or something?"

That got a laugh out of the soldier. She knew better than that of course, but only because of her experiences as a l'Cie. Cocoon's stereotypes of Pulsians were actually little better than what Fang had just described. She played along, "Well, you did say you were a warrior when you lived here, right?"

"We were _all_ warriors," Fang corrected.

Lightning's head canted in confusion. "Everyone?"

"Mmmhmm," Fang drawled as she gestured at some nearby children play-fighting with sticks. "Everyone."

Lightning watched the boys and girls as they ran around the grassy hill brandishing their imaginary weapons. It reminded her a little of her own childhood, although there were no holographic projectors or plastic light-guns here. "Back on Cocoon, Pulsians were always depicted as these wild, burly men who used their sheer numbers to -" she chuckled when the youngest girl threw an older boy to the ground with a move that she'd seen cadets in Bodhum's security regiment fail to master. "- overwhelm the enemy. Of course, anyone could look at the vestige in Bodhum and see there was more to Gran Pulse than that, but it didn't matter."

Fang nodded.

"I know you spent some time wandering Cocoon, before you went to Euride Gorge. Surely you heard something about Pulsians? Did you ever see posters for that one movie about the terrifying invaders from hell?" _'What_ _ **was**_ _that called?'_ she asked herself. There were so many dumb movies about Pulse, they were practically interchangeable.

The warrior rolled her eyes. "Pfft. You mean the one about the Pulsian princess who's captured by the handsome soldier and in the end comes to realize that life on Cocoon is just _soooo_ much better?"

Lightning laughed. "You _saw_ that?"

Fang's eyes went comically wide. "What?! _No_!" she cried out, waving her hands frantically as though being accused of watching that movie would be the most embarrassing thing ever. Some of the playing children glanced their way for a moment, which only made the Pulsian blush even harder. "No. I mean, everywhere we went on Cocoon there were a hundred screens planted on every wall; in the streets, in the shops, even in the damn bathrooms. It was impossible not to hear about that stupid movie."

She continued, "Everywhere we looked we saw news reports, game shows, music - which was _horrible_ by the way - but what we saw most of all were these programs where people just sit around talking to each other about the stupidest, most inane things." She shook her head. "How do you _stand_ it?"

"We just tune most of it out," Lightning said with an easy shrug. Until her days as a l'Cie, the soldier had never really noticed just how accustomed she had been to the constant presence of one form of media or another. After the fall, it became something that everyone had to adjust to. Back on Cocoon, digital displays and holovids were a constant companion. Total silence was a rare thing indeed.

Fang's lips curved into a frown. "I just… don't see the _point_."

Lightning looked more closely at the surrounding buildings. Not a single wall had an embedded screen in it. Colorful advertisements took the form of physical banners and slogans painted right on the brickwork. "You didn't have holovids on Pulse?"

"Sure we did, but we kept them confined to places like theaters or classrooms. You know, where they _belong_."

She ignored that last comment. "So you had movies here, just like on Cocoon?"

This time Fang nodded happily. Lightning was sure that the huntress was just itching to make it clear that Cocoon was in no way superior to Pulse.

"Really?" the soldier asked, betraying a smile of her own. "So, how were _my_ people portrayed?"

Fang's answering grin was decidedly wicked in nature. "You wanna see?"

"Yeah," Lightning said, her interest piqued. "Show me."

Fang stepped forward and snapped her fingers. The citizens and buildings blew away as though they had been made of sand the whole time.

The next thing Lightning saw were the familiar grassy plains of the Archylte Steppe. Cocoon hung low in the sky, its shell unbroken. The ground was littered with the wreckage of bizarre looking machines. Perhaps they were airships from several hundred years ago? She wasn't sure. Heavy smoke poured out of countless craters, but there were no bodies. It was nothing like a real battlefield at all. The movies on Pulse apparently had that much in common with movies on Cocoon.

Two armies faced off across the plain. On the east side, with the floating world of Cocoon at their backs, were a group of fifty men and women so heavily armored that they could've been mistaken for tanks. Their leader strolled confidently forward, wearing armor that looked suspiciously like her own. She couldn't quite see the woman's face under her feathered helmet, but her long pink hair stood out against her jet black armor.

On the western hill stood a much larger army of men, women and Pulsian constructs. Bright red banners flapped in the strong breeze. The humans were dressed in what Lightning assumed was traditional Pulsian garb. At their head strode a woman who was obviously Oerba Yun Fang.

Lightning could only shake her head when the real Fang winked at her.

With chilling battle cries, the two armies rushed at each other, leaving just the two leaders behind as swords and mechanical weapons collided. Just like in a movie, the nameless combatants quickly faded into the background, leaving just 'Fang' and the armored woman who was obviously meant to be Lightning. This other Fang gave out a yell and the two women rushed at each other. When they met, they collided with all the energy of a thunderbolt.

"Thunnndagaaa!" Lightning's doppelganger fought just like her, seeming to spend more time in the air than on the ground as she attacked with a mix of sword strikes and lightning spells. Grass caught fire and the air crackled as 'Fang' dodged her attacks, using her vast strength in swinging her long spear.

With a lunge, the warrior from Cocoon broke her opponent's staff in two. 'Fang' fell backward onto the grassy ground and 'Lightning' jumped on top of her, holding her blade to the woman's neck and scowling. "Do you yield?" she hissed.

The warrior growled and bucked the woman off of her, sending the gunblade flying off into the grass. The real Lightning looked on with an expression somewhere between fascination and horror as the two women wrestled each other on the ground until 'Lightning' again had the Pulsian warrior pinned underneath her.

The pink-haired soldier gaped at what happened next.

"Do. You. Yield?!"

This time the warrior nodded.

'Lightning' grinned wickedly, a bead of sweat dripped from the tip of her nose to land on Fang's lips. "You're _mine_ , devil."

Their lips met in a brutal kiss, hands desperately tearing at armor and clothing. The armies fighting around them faded completely into a mist that seemed to roll in from nowhere, leaving just the two leaders and the sounds of distant but unseen battle. It didn't take long for 'Lightning' to divest her enemy of her sari. 'Fang' had only barely managed to get the woman's gloves off before she was shoved back hard against the ground.

"Yesss..." Her doppelganger's tone had all the warmth of a snake's. "I think I'll take you back to Cocoon with me."

Her doppelganger's hand slid forcefully beneath the woman's shorts. Lightning's face had never achieved such a deep shade of red. " _Fang_!" she whined.

In an instant, the doppelgangers, the gathering mist, and all the combatants vanished, leaving the empty plains of Gran Pulse behind. She shook her head and kept her eyes firmly on the ground. As far as Lightning was concerned, there was no conceivable combination of factors that would lead her to ever act like _that_.

She couldn't imagine herself acting like so bold or forceful in any universe.

And besides, everyone knew it was pronounced 'thun-daah-ga.'

The breeze continued to blow through the grasses and the world again smelled fresh and vibrant in a way that Cocoon never had. Lightning was thankful for it. She hated battlefields.

"So..." she drawled, trying to keep her embarrassment in check, after all, Fang was just being Fang, " _That's_ what the Oerbans thought of my people?"

Fang stared intently at her own feet, was she embarrassed too? "Well... pretty much. Your people were vipers who lured the trusting, intelligent and _beautiful_ folks of Gran Pulse up to their nest with false promises of an eternal paradise -"

Lightning suppressed an eye roll at Fang's description of Pulsians. "Seems that wasn't the only thing they promised." Either that, or Fang was just really into pornographic movies.

The huntress' smile returned. "Okay, I made that part up."

Lightning shook her head.

A hand touched her shoulder. "Didn't mean to embarrass you..." Lightning met Fang's gaze suspiciously and the woman quickly added, "Too much."

"It's not that," she said, unable to suppress a smile.

"Then what is it?"

The soldier crossed her arms as she watched the gently swaying grass of the Archylte Steppe; it had always been strangely hypnotic to her. These grasses covered the planet and grew without help from any fal'Cie. "Other than the fact that my girlfriend has the imagination of a fourteen-year-old boy?"

She heard a chuckle as a hand snaked its way into her hair. " _Girlfriend,_ huh? I like the sound of that."

"Tch. You'd _better_ after what we did on the beach. Otherwise I'll have to tear that arm off."

Fang began gently petting the back of Lightning's head as though she were a cat. "Yes, ma'am," she said, stepping in closely behind her back and whispering into her ear.

Despite herself, Lightning shivered at the words. Something about being called "ma'am" made her melt inside. She'd file that little revelation away for a later date.

Fang was now pressed tightly against her and Lightning couldn't help but lean back to increase the pressure. "It's just... are you sure you really want to do this? You barely even know me. I might not live up to your _expectations_ ," she said, gesturing to the little hill where their doppelgangers had just been... _doing things_... with each other.

"Hey, now. You forget I was there when we took down the fal'Cie. You've already taken my expectations and blown them away."

Her brow furrowed; after all she was just doing what had to be done, they _all_ had. "Those were unique circumstances..."

"And last night when you sacrificed yourself to protect me and give time for your friends to escape?"

Lightning blushed. "Um... more unique circumstances?"

"And what about when you let me do this?" Fang continued, nibbling on her neck.

Breathing suddenly became something she had to work at. " _Definitely_ unique circumstances."

The huntress breathed into her ear, "Why so tense? Surely you've done this before?"

Lightning swallowed. "I, uh - "

Fang pulled back. Her wide eyes asked the question.

"Yeah," was the soldier's mumbled reply. It wasn't that she was normally embarrassed about being inexperienced, but this was _Fang_.

"Wow. I figured you would've had your pick of anyone you wanted."

"Tch. There wasn't time for any of that. I had to take care of my sister."

Fang slipped around her until they were face to face. "Then I'm honored to be your first, and," she paused to wrapped her arms around the soldier in a tight hug, "hopefully only, yeah?"

The woman was so damn _warm,_ Lightning couldn't help but hug her back. Just a day ago, her entire world had been one of flames and bombs and the stench of the battlefield, but now... "I take it you're _not..._ uh, you know..."

Thankfully, Fang seemed to understand her halting, barely coherent speech. The warrior shook her head. "I've had a few lovers in my time. Does that bother you?"

It didn't, but she was concerned about one lover in particular. "Was Vanille one?"

It must've been the wrong thing to say because Fang's eyes went wide and she started coughing. Almost keeling over, she ended up on her knees, struggling to breathe while Lightning gently patted her back. "No, no, no!" the warrior said, her face red. "She's just a friend."

"I just thought." She paused. "You two are so close. You said you'd tear down the sky to save her."

"Yeah. And I meant it," Fang said, her expression sobering. "I love her, Light, just not the way you're thinkin'."

"Oh." Again she felt pretty foolish. How old was Vanille anyway, six or seven years younger than Fang? Lightning had never actually asked.

"I'd do the same for you, you know?"

Lightning stared into those intense green eyes. _'What does she see in me?'_

It seemed like the woman could read her mind. "You don't think much of yourself, do you?"

There were those damn eyes again, reading her like it was the easiest thing in the world. Lightning forced herself to explain, "Before the Purge, I was a guard in the Bodhum security forces. It was my job to stop interesting things from happening." She untangled herself from Fang's grasp and stepped away, staring at her former home hanging in the sky. "I'm not anything special, Fang. I'd spend my free time in the corps training yard, or I'd sit around the house, polishing my sword. Maybe on a particularly exciting night, I might read a book or something."

Fang was standing beside her again. "You always this hard on yourself?"

She let out a deep sigh. "Yeah."

"Then that's something else we have in common."

Lightning could only grunt in response. She felt like an idiot. How old was she, sixteen? Fang was obviously interested in her after all.

"I want to know everything about you."

Her eyes met Fang's again. "Really?"

The huntress nodded, her hand traveled down Lightning's shoulder until they were holding hands as before. "Why don't you show me?"

"Show you?"

"Yeah," Fang said seriously, stretching out her arm to indicate the expansive world beyond them. " _Show me_."

...

It was a little like watching a series of short holovids. Scenes from her life appeared before their eyes with so much clarity they might as well have been real. Each scene lasted perhaps a minute or two before being replaced by a new one: her earliest memories of her parents bringing Serah home from the hospital, growing up as a happy family in Bodhum, an eight-year-old Lightning on the beach building sandcastles with her sister…

Fang looked on with obvious amusement at that time in the fifth grade when a bully foolishly made Serah cry and Lightning not only gave him a broken nose for his trouble, but also gave black eyes or bruises to everyone who ran to the bully's aid, including the vice-principal.

There were other moments that passed in total silence - the death of her father, and the day she found out that her mother was sick - but throughout it all, Fang continued to keep in physical contact; whether a comforting squeeze on the shoulder, or the simple act of holding hands, the huntress was always there with her.

For the most part, however, Lightning shared the happier moments. Fang seemed to particularly enjoy seeing Lightning in her various younger forms.

But Fang's easy smile faltered at the sight of Lightning's mother confined to a bed. Like in all the other dreams, the room around them gradually assembled itself until every last detail was perfect. As hard as it was to be here, Lightning pulled Fang closer to the bed. Her mother was so frail, but she wanted Fang to see. The disease her mom had lived with for three years was in its final stages.

It hurt to see her again. She was much too thin.

"You okay, Light?"

"Yeah. It's all right. I _want_ you to see her." Fang gave her hand a comforting squeeze in response.

The door slowly cracked open, and they were greeted with the sight of Lightning's fifteen year old self reporting in after a long day of school. Fang's eyes lit up. Lightning absently wondered if Fang would've been drawn to her had they grown up on Pulse together.

It seemed likely.

Lightning remembered this day vividly... The two women spoke for some time about the girl's day at school, both completely unaware of the two women standing by the bed. An awkward silence followed. Normally, at this point, Lightning would've started on dinner - not that making an instant dinner on Cocoon was in any way challenging - but there was more she wanted to say tonight.

"Mom?"

The woman gently placed her book down on the nightstand. "Something on your mind, Claire?"

Even at fifteen, Lightning was no fool. She knew her mother was dying, despite how everyone around her did their best to pretend like it would pass. There were things she needed to tell her before the end, but it was hard to just come out and _say_ it...

"I wanted to tell you something."

Her mother smiled, waiting patiently for the girl to continue, "So I gathered."

Lightning knew what was going through her teenage mind. There was a flash in her younger self's eyes when she finally made the decision to stop stalling and just blurt it out. "There's this person I like."

Mom was still smiling, an eyebrow raised as if to ask, 'Is that all?'

"...Someone I _like_ like."

"Oh," she drawled. "Now that _is_ something. What's her name?"

The girl was about to reply, but instead her jaw dropped open. "W- _how_?!"

Her mom's eyes sparkled, like she and Fang would've gotten along very well indeed. Young Lightning stood there blinking, pulling at the hem of her shirt in discomfort.

Eventually, her mother took pity on her, "I've had my suspicions for quite some time, Claire."

At fifteen, Lightning might've thought she was smarter than most kids her age, but she definitely hadn't seen that coming. "But I... wha-"

"I've seen the way you look at girls, dear. Remember when I let you wander the waterfront last weekend and Serah and I found you watching the regional blitzball tryouts?"

"But -"

"You only had eyes for the girls on the team. Even Serah noticed it."

Even without the pink hair and the blue eyes, anyone would've been able to tell the young girl was Lightning Farron by the way she scowled in response.

However, her mother was immune to such expressions. "You were _smiling_ , Claire."

" _Mom_!"

"You also have posters of women all over your room."

Her younger self was quick to object, "Nuh-uh, I have that big poster of Alfrid Mercurius on my d -"

"Honey," her mother interrupted, "we both know he's gay." In shocked response, the girl could only cross her arms and pout. "And just how many photos of the Bodhum Women's Blitzball team do you have on your walls?"

"A couple..." Young Lightning mumbled. The soldier nervously scratched the back of her neck when Fang knowingly glanced her way, _'A couple dozen more like.'_

"So, _is_ there a special girl in your life?" her mother asked. The young girl at her bedside only blushed and shrugged, allowing her long hair to cover her face. Before she had quit all of her extra-curricular activities, Lightning had a well-deserved reputation for self-confidence - especially on the playing field - but all that natural confidence evaporated when it came time to actually talk to girls she liked.

And soon there wouldn't be any time for romance at all.

"I love you, Claire. That will never change, no matter which lucky girl steals your heart. And when you're ready, you can bring her over for dinner."

Lightning's fifteen-year-old self whined, " _Mom..._ "

As her younger self refused to go into any more details, Fang reached over and squeezed Lightning's hand. "Claire," the huntress repeated. " _That's_ your name."

It felt strange to hear anyone but Serah or her mother say it. "Yeah," she mumbled as her younger self gently shut the door behind her. She and Serah could only speak to her for so long. Her mother got tired so easily.

"Am I allowed to call you that?"

Lightning's voice was barely audible even in the quiet of the Farron household, "Sure."

Fang thanked her by squeezing her hand again. "Sorry about –"

"Serah's a lot like her," Lightning said, intentionally interrupting, her voice still very faint. When Fang let go, Lightning wandered slowly around the room, examining books and furniture she hadn't seen in ten years before coming to a stop in front of the drawn shades.

"So, tell me about this girl you fancied."

Lightning shook her head. "It was just a dumb crush. I asked her out the next day. She turned me down."

Fang joined her at the window. When Lightning looked over her shoulder, her mother was no longer in the bed. It was like she had never been there at all. "So," Fang began. Lightning smiled to herself; she just knew what the woman was going to ask. "What was she like?"

"Just some girl from the track team. Dark skin, tall... annoyingly self-confident."

"Sounds familiar."

"Ha." It was bizarre even talking about her, Lightning wasn't even sure she remembered her name. "I was three years younger than her. So I wasn't surprised when she said no." She shrugged. "At least she was nice about it."

Fang nodded in response and seemed thankfully unwilling to press her any further about it. Lightning opened the blinds and thought about what she might show the woman next. As the sunlight came pouring in, the house faded into yet another scene from this depressing stretch of her life: A slightly older Lightning watching a stranger from social services inspect the house to see that it was a safe place for Serah to live. She intentionally avoided showing Fang the funeral. It wasn't something she ever wanted to relive.

"You took care of your sister after your mom passed away?" Fang asked as more short snippets of her life flickered by.

Lightning sighed. "Yeah. Not as well as I should've of though."

More scenes appeared to them after that: Lightning's increasing responsibilities around the house, her struggles in school and with her temper, her efforts to properly take care of her sister, both for her parent's sake and so that she wouldn't be taken away. Serah's well-being became the focus of her life. She was all Lightning had left.

Still, Lightning made mistakes and wasn't always the big-sister she should've been, even before Serah had been branded.

There was Lightning at age seventeen leaning against a wall with other kids her age, everyone dressed in dark clothing and looking rather unapproachable. Lightning joining the Corps -

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Fang interrupted, waving her hands. "What was _**that**_?"

The visions stopped, leaving them standing in a void. "What was what?"

"I'm pretty sure I saw you in a leather jacket and ripped jeans back there..."

Of course Fang would seize upon something like that... "Oh," she mumbled, forcing back a sigh. "That was just how I dressed back in high-school."

Lightning was surprised to find herself suddenly in her old bedroom back in Bodhum, but something was off. She looked down to see she was wearing an old faded black t-shirt and those same ripped jeans. Fang sat on the edge of _her_ bed, grinning up with satisfaction at the sight.

"Fang!" She covered herself up with her arms as though she were naked, "I look _ridiculous_." And she did, she really did. Twenty-six was way too old to be dressed like... well, she looked like she belonged in _NORA_ or something. The mirror revealed it all: piercings in her nose, the tips of her hair tinted purple and even styled the exact same way it had been in those days: a sidecut, with her not-quite-as-long, still mostly pink hair all parted on one side.

And _'Maker,'_ she thought as she leaned on the dressing table to get a closer look in the mirror, the black eyeliner made her cringe. Did she really use to dress like this?

Fang said nothing at first. And judging by her dilated pupils, perhaps that was for the best.

Still, Fang being Fang, it wasn't long before she found her voice. "Wow..." A hand reached out and touched her loose black shirt almost like Fang wasn't sure what it was. "Damn, Light."

Lightning stared down at the table with her face flushed. If it was possible to die of embarrassment in crystal stasis, she was about to find out.

Fang silently wrapped the woman up from behind and gently kissed the back of her exposed neck. "How are you feeling?"

"Ridiculous," Lightning grumbled. "I believe I mentioned that."

The huntress chuckled. With gentle pressure on her shoulder, she nudged Lightning until her back was against the table, facing away from the mirror. "No, I mean..." Fang breathed out as though looking for the right words, "It must be hard, seeing your parents again after all this time."

Lightning looked away, it was rapidly becoming an automatic response to whenever Fang's eyes locked onto her's with such intensity. "I'm fine," she half-lied. "I'm glad you got the chance to meet them... sortof." She supposed she could've imagined them both into a scene where Fang _really_ got to meet her parents, but no, it would've only been a show. It wouldn't have been _real_.

Fang's left hand had wandered up to that space just above Lightning's right ear and gently rubbed the short hairs there. "I like this."

Her eyes narrowed, watching Fang's amused expression. "You want me to shave the sides of my head?" the soldier asked, her expression dubious.

"I like this," Fang repeated before her fingers threaded their way through the thick, long portion. "Long _and_ short. Best of both worlds, yeah?"

Lightning could only laugh. Serah would give her no end of grief if she wore her hair like this again, and Yuj would probably ask her for fashion tips. "You should know, I wasn't always so... _law abiding_... when I was younger."

"Yeah, you _were_ pretty rebellious when I first met you."

"No," she said with a sigh. "I meant _before_ that."

"Couldn't possibly be anything worse than fighting PSICOM." The words finally brought a smile to Lightning's lips. "Oh, and the Sanctum, and the fal'Cie, and -"

"Yeah, yeah," Lightning muttered. Perhaps old habits died harder than she thought.

The way she was still looking her over, Fang must've found her outfit absolutely fascinating. "Why did you stop dressing like this anyway?"

"Seriously?" _'Wasn't it obvious,'_ she thought.

Fang grinned.

She sighed in resignation. _That_ was story she'd never shared with anyone, not even Serah, but Lightning was determined to properly answer every question Fang asked of her. It was the only way to be sure if this _thing_ they had was actually going to work. "One night, I was hanging out with some friends after school. Serah was staying at a friend's house. Anyway, there was this velocycle parked down the street. We saw the guy get out and, well, he had a pretty big gut. My friends dared me to take something from it."

"Some friends," Fang muttered.

Lightning nodded. "I don't even remember what I stole, but the guy chased me for about twenty blocks before he finally caught up to me."

Fang tilted her head.

"How was I supposed to know the big guy could run so fast?"

Her tormenter smiled, she still had Lightning effectively pinned against the desk. "What happened when he caught you?"

"It turned out he was in the Guardian Corps. He offered me a choice: go to jail, or take a tour of the Corps office the next day."

"So that's what you did?"

"Yeah, after I was finished crying."

The warrior blinked. " _You_ , crying?"

She shrugged. "All I could think of was how Serah had only just turned fourteen. I felt like the world's biggest failure. She was depending on me and I let her down. I let my parents down."

Fang leaned forward and planted a light kiss on her lips. In an instant the memories of her past failures melted into obscurity. "So, you joined the corps?" she asked.

Lightning let out a breath she hadn't known she had been holding. Either through Fang's wishes, or through her own subconscious ones, her clothing and appearance again changed until she was wearing her old Guardian Corps uniform. It still fit perfectly. She realized in that instant just how much she missed it. "Just the youth division. I signed up to start basic-training on my eighteenth birthday."

Fang kissed her nose. Clearly, the piercings were gone too. "And they turned you into a soldier?"

"Yeah. Lieutenant Amodar also said I had some repressed anger issues and that the Corps could help with that too."

"Sounds like a smart man. Was he right?"

Lightning grunted. She still had a bit of a temper, though she hadn't actually punched Snow since a few days before Orphan was destroyed. "Sortof. Amodar was right about one thing at least: I had to grow up... _really_ grow up. I'm glad he gave me the chance."

"Yeah, me too. It meant I would eventually run into you while you were wearing this smoking hot uniform."

"Ha."

"I'm serious. Why do you think I went after you in Palumpolum instead of sticking with Snow and Hope? The big guy had told me a little about his fiancé's sister, but when I saw you fighting all those soldiers in this Guardian Corps outfit, I thought to myself, 'daaamn'. Just had to go and find out more."

Lightning scoffed. "You followed me because you were _attracted_ to me?"

"Hey," Fang said with that same half-smile that had continuously annoyed and flustered Lightning since the first time they'd met. Those nimble hands of hers began slowly unbuckling the numerous straps on the soldier's Guardian Corps jacket, reveling in the act of undressing her. "Sometimes you gotta just follow your instincts."

The soldier rolled her eyes but allowed herself to stay trapped right where she was. "You know, if you had told me at the time that you were following me because you liked my legs, I would've done far worse than slap you. Especially, if you were eying me like you are now."

The woman's face was again inches from her own. "Trust me, it was more than just your legs. And I _was_ eying you like this... Was just smart enough to do it when you weren't lookin'."

"Tch."

By this time, Fang had slipped the soldier's jacket off and onto the floor. "Mmmm... I see you still have the belly-button ring."

Lightning nodded, even though Fang's eyes were clearly focused elsewhere. "That's all that's left of my wilder days."

Drawing closer, Fang murmured against her neck. "Oh, I doubt that. I think there are plenty of wild days ahead for you."

The huntress' attentions were really starting to get to her, especially when she pressed her entire frame against her like that. "You t- think so?"

"Mmmhmm. I'd like to teach you how to hunt like we did on Gran Pulse. By the time I'm finished with you, you'll be smearing the blood of your enemies on your face like a true Yun warrior."

Lightning gasped. "What?!"

"Just kidding."

"Don't make me slap you like I did the first time we met."

"Ooh, feisty."

Lightning huffed. "Rawr," she added sarcastically.

Fang practically purred in response. "Mmm, I love it when you sass me like that."

"You're twisted."

"Oh, you have _no_ idea." Without another word, Lightning found her shorts quickly unzipped and pooled around her ankles. She swallowed. This was uncharted territory.

Fang meanwhile, hadn't shed a single article of her own clothing and Lightning had to admit it was just the tiniest bit of a turn-on. The feel of the fabric of Fang's sari brushing against her bare legs was almost as pleasant as the feel of the woman's burning hot skin.

Next came Lightning's undershirt, but after unzipping it, Fang simply let it hang open, admiring the pink bra underneath. She raised an eyebrow and Lightning chuckled. What, she wasn't allowed to wear pink?

When it looked like Fang was about to slip her hand around her back, Lightning did her a favor and simply wished her remaining clothing away. Fang immediately swallowed. Lightning stood there, completely naked.

Fang could only gape.

The great Oerba Yun Fang speechless? Lightning smiled despite herself. ' _Good_.'

Before long, Fang's expert fingers began lighting a blazing trail up her abdomen. Her green eyes locked onto Lightning's and the soldier gave the tiniest of nods to let the breathless woman know it was safe to continue.

When those hands finally reached her breasts, the soldier breathed in sharply. Fang's hands were calloused - doubtless from a lifetime spent handling a spear - and the feel of the rough pads of her fingers traveling over skin drove Lightning mad. It took a moment for her to even realize that the woman was feeling one of her many scars.

"Where'd you get this one?" Fang asked, indicating a small wound on her left breast, not too far from where her l'Cie brand had been.

"Six months ago. The Battle of Sector One-One-Eight."

The next thing she felt was Fang's soft lips on that scar. Fingers travelled up to her collarbone. "And this one?"

"Shrapnel from an artillery shell." Her brow furrowed. She wasn't actually completely sure about that one. There were so many scars.

Another kiss. Fang's right hand journied around the soldier's waist and tickled her spine.

"You're so damn beautiful, Light. Everything about you is just unbel-"

In an impulsive act that surprised even her, Lightning pulled hard on the woman's sari until Fang's lips crashed into her own. Her hands tangled in the woman's lustrous hair as they explored each other's mouths. Lightning was so turned on it would've frightened her had she any desire to think about such things.

With strong arms, Fang easily picked the soldier up, carried her the short distance to the bed, and gently laid her down all while continuing the kiss. In the quiet of the room, the soldier could hear Fang's labored breathing when she paused for breath.

Now that she was on top, Fang's long fingers began trailing back down Lightning's abdomen. Lightning arched her back and her eyes rolled back in her head. Had her mouth been unoccupied, Fang's name would have been all she could've possibly said anyway.

The huntress pulled back just far enough to whisper against Lightning's lips, "Sensitive, aren't we?"

Maker, when this was over Fang would be lucky to escape her grasp without any serious bruises. But as that hand slipped lower, Lightning reminded herself that punching the woman could wait until she after she had gotten what she so desperately needed.

Maddeningly, The fingers paused in their journey."Light?"

Her voice came out as rough as sandpaper, "Yeah?"

"This is okay, right? I mean... I didn't really ask if you wanted to-"

"No!" Fang flinched and Lightning quickly covered the woman's right hand, holding it exactly where it was. "I mean, _**no**_ , don't stop."

Fang's answering grin was practically wolfish. "So," she whispered into Lightning's ear, "I should keep going?"

"If I wanted you to stop, I could've broken your arm."

Fang murmured into the woman's shoulder. "Mmm... yes, ma'am."

"Dammit," she rasped, her back again arching against her will.

"What?"

At that moment, it was a profound struggle to give any kind of coherent voice to what was on her mind, "I think I like it when you call me that."

"Mmmm... really?" Fang drawled. Her mouth slid closer to her ear, and Lightning could feel the damp heat of the woman's breath, "You're still in the security forces right?"

The words came out haltingly, "New Bodhum Security Regiment... Commandant General."

Fang licked the side of her neck before nibbling on it. "Sounds prestigious."

Lightning could only manage a nod, her hair falling into her field of vision as she turned her head to offer more of her neck to the ravenous woman on top of her.

"So, if I joined the corps, I would serve under _you_ , right?"

Lightning gulped and nodded once again.

Fang's tone was gently teasing, "I bet you'd like that, huh?" Lightning could feel the woman smiling against her skin. "Me serving under you. Taking your orders."

Long fingers finally slipped between her thighs. "Fang!"

"I bet you _like_ being in charge."

Funny, she didn't feel very 'in charge' at the moment. Instead, her heart was pounding in her chest as though she were squaring off against a behemoth.

But no, Fang was _way_ more intimidating than any behemoth.

Especially when she had her fingers pressed inside her like that.

It probably took only seconds - not that Lightning was in any condition to count - but before long she felt a wave of pleasure overcome her. With an embarrassingly loud yelp, she came over Fang's hand with all the swiftness and power of a thunderbolt, her strong legs wrapping themselves instinctively around Fang's waist.

Dazed, yet incredibly satisfied, Lightning fell exhausted against the bed.

_'Wow...'_ she thought. Fang was really, really, _really_ good at that. Supernaturally good, in fact.

When she finally opened her eyes again, Fang was still hovering over her, the woman's dark hair standing up curiously. She blinked. The air smelled faintly of ozone.

The huntress looked a bit surprised to say the least. "Next time," Fang breathed, using a hand to try and gain control over her unruly, electrically-charged hair, "Next time, I'm wearing one of those magic absorbing rings."

_'Oh... whoops.'_ "Sorry," Lightning mumbled.

Fang didn't seem _too_ upset. She only smiled, wrapped her arms around the woman beneath her and rolled them over until Lightning was lying on top. At some point, the huntress must've shed her own clothes, because Lightning found herself resting on top of Fang's _very_ naked chest.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the people in those old posters of hers looking down on her. With only a thought, the room morphed into the much more familiar spartan bedroom she had known for the past five years. Outside the large, glass windows stood the pillar of crystal that once held up Cocoon.

Five years ago she'd deliberatly oriented her house so that the pillar would always be visible from this room.

"Mmm," Fang murmured. "This bed smells like you."

Lightning yawned as she allowed herself to relax against the woman beneath her, a hand gently moved up and down the length of Fang's impressively strong upper arm. She'd punch her later...

Maybe.

Fingers threaded their way through her hair again. Sleep was beginning to claim her, but Lightning fought it off. "Don't you want me to... you know?" There was a distinct nervousness to her voice. Could she even hope to get Fang as worked up as she had just been?

It was hard to imagine _anyone_ getting as worked up as that.

Fang held the soldier still and shook her head. "We've got all the time in the world, Claire. Besides, you deserve some rest after what you've been through."

Lightning grunted wearily in agreement. It had been a long time since she had fallen asleep with no worries to trouble her. Serah was safe, Vanille was safe, _everyone_ was safe, and here she was safely in the arms of the woman she had been dreaming about for years. "Yeah," she admitted, pushing herself up to look Fang in the eyes, her own blue eyes sparkling with mischief, "but you haven't had sex in what, five-hundred _years_?"

Fang sighed and Lightning starting giggling like a child. "Yeah, yeah. Very funny."

Feeling like they were at least slightly more even now, Lightning rested her head in the crook of Fang's neck, a smile and the taste of the woman still on her lips. She breathed in deeply of the scent of her lover's skin and hair. Fang smelled wonderfully real and natural and nothing at all like anything on Cocoon.

"Don't worry. I'll be here when you wake up."

"You'd better be," said the soldier with a yawn. "Or they'll never find your body." When she felt Fang swallow nervously, Lightning planted a light kiss on the woman's neck. With her breathing finally beginning to level out as she lay in the woman's arms, a welcome sleep finally overtook her.

* * *

End of Chapter 3

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter to go. It probably won't be nearly as long as the others ^^


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy birfday, fmo! C:

"A Fal'Cie's Gift" by Imrryr  
  
Chapter 4 of 4  
  
...  
  
Her boots padded softly on the well-worn path, being very careful not to make a sound as she kept a watchful eye out both for prey and for any predators that might be lurking in the bush.  
  
She was following a trail used by Oerba's hunters and merchants for centuries, if not millennia. Fang said it had been here long before the founding of Cocoon. This trail was a route to distant lands whose names and people were now remembered by only two people in all the world.  
  
On the distant horizon floated her former home - its shell still intact - and Lightning found that as she stalked these woods day after day in her struggle to learn the hunter's craft, her thoughts often turned to her distant ancestors. Where there once Farrons who hunted and traveled along these same paths centuries ago?  
  
The idea was comforting, even if it was strange to be thinking about such things now; the Farron family tree was never really something the soldier had ever given much thought to. Up there, most people just assumed their ancestors had always lived on Cocoon, even if that didn't actually make sense when you really thought about it.  
  
These days, Lightning wasn't nearly so naive.  
  
So, she wondered about them. What would they have thought of her clumsy attempts at hunting? Honestly, they'd probably think she was completely ridiculous. After all, those same ancestors had voluntarily given up this life. Why hunt for your daily meal and risk nights of cold and hunger when the fal'Cie would give you everything you could ever want?  
  
Lightning stifled a sigh. She always had to do things the hard way. People had been telling her that all her life.  
  
She couldn't escape that part of herself, and the longer she was in this vibrant, living world, the less she thought that she would have made the same choice her forebearers did.  
  
She liked it out here in the wilds. She liked having control over her own destiny.  
  
Of course, Lightning wasn't naive enough to think that life on the Pulse of five-hundred years ago would've been idyllic. But still, with Fang here it felt like the real thing might actually come pretty close. Just her and Fang, spending most of their days and all of their nights together -  
  
She stopped. Hoof prints. There was at least one wild deer nearby, or rather a giant deer-like creature Fang's people called 'megaloceros' - a form of elk with impressively large antlers – and she could see its markings by the side of the narrowing trail. Weeks of hunting side by side with Fang had taught her to recognize a wide variety of Pulsian fauna by their prints, as well as by other signs that were less pleasant to dwell upon.  
  
Ever cautious, she scanned the horizon. It was true that nothing could hurt her out here – this was still a dream, after all - but nothing would be learned if she approached things that way. Fang struggled to get her to let go and simply enjoy their shared stasis, but as far as Lightning was concerned she was learning to let go; it was the only sensible way to explain why she was stalking through the undergrowth in her shorts, her turtleneck and little else, her face and hair dirtied in a clumsy attempt at camouflage that Fang had far too much fun assisting with.  
  
On the edge of the forest, she saw the faintest glint of light; a small pool of water. And there, drinking on the bank, its head buried in the reeds, was her quarry.  
  
Sometimes it was hard to believe this place was real, especially after having spent years among Pulse's charred and broken ruins, but this land and its strange creatures did exist once, before it was all lost under a mountain of crystal sand after the shattering of Cocoon's shell and then further obliterated by the civil war that came hundreds of years later.  
  
She brushed her way past wildflowers and tall grasses that shone bright yellow under the setting sun. Beads of sweat dribbled down her neck as she pressed slowly forward, making sure to stay downwind as she approached the grazing animal. She was still wearing the turtleneck issued her by the Guardian Corps even though it was much too warm to be comfortable. Fang had suggested something closer to what a Yun tribeswoman would wear: a simple black thing she called a choli that looked rather more like a sports bra as far as Lightning was concerned.  
  
Then, of course, there were days when Fang suggested she wear nothing at all.  
  
With the back of her hand, she wiped the sweat off her brow. Perhaps it was something in Lightning's personality, but certain discomforts manifested themselves as the soldier dreamed. If she really wanted to she could've wished all the heat and the fatigue away. So why didn't she want to?  
  
There were some general discomforts that weren't really discomforts to born fighter like Lightning, and the act of perspiring helped make this world feel real, even when her real body was a crystal lying on a forgotten beach somewhere. Or at least, that's what she told herself.  
  
Fang picked up on those unstated feelings, which was probably part of the reason why she insisted that the act of trailing one's prey over miles and miles of undulating savannah was just as much an essential part of the hunting experience as finally going in for the kill. In Lightning, Fang had someone willing to truly understand what it was like to hunt as a Yun tribeswoman, someone who could appreciate that there was much more to hunting than running after your prey and stabbing it with a spear.  
  
And Lightning had to admit that even when they stalked silently together, not speaking to each other for hours at a time, tracking prey was still a very intimate experience. As the days quickly passed, the soldier learned the meanings behind every hand gesture and subtle expression her Pulsian lover made. And as day turned into night, Lightning learned a lot of other things...  
  
She was close now and could admire the huge, white antlers that framed the head of the creature, billowing out like sails on an old-style airship. Lightning stood stock still every time the massive animal looked up warily from its grazing on the reeds at its feet.  
  
Hunting was a lot more difficult than Cocoon's holovids made it seem.  
  
It was one thing to kill an enraged behemoth that was blocking your path, even though that certainly wasn't easy by a long shot. Behemoths were alpha predators that brazenly walked the Steppe without fear. It was quite another thing to go out searching for elusive prey who's instinctual response to approaching predators was flight.  
  
Armed with just a spear, Lightning had to get close enough to her target that she could reach out and touch it. Doing so without giving herself away was proving to be nigh impossible.  
  
There were so many times when she accidentally snapped a twig or exhaled at precisely the wrong moment and messed everything up. Watching hours of effort go up in smoke in the form of an elk scrambling madly for safety was a uniquely dispiriting sensation.  
  
Thankfully, Fang seemed to have more patience with her than Lightning herself did. There were amused grins, even uproarious laughter on occasion, but the woman never once gave up on her, never made Lightning feel like she'd be any less of a hunter than Fang was.  
  
In fact, every time she failed, Fang would share a failure story of her own by the campfire. There seemed to be an inexhaustible supply of them.  
  
It made Lightning feel a little less foolish.  
  
Fang wasn't alongside her now. They had separated maybe half an hour ago. Lightning would have the honor of killing this beast, provided she could get close enough to deliver the blow. From a copse of verdant trees, she slowly advanced on the grazing animal, still pausing every time it raised its head to look suspiciously around. By now, she was only about fifteen feet away. It was as close as she had ever gotten.  
  
Another step, another pause. Lightning's metal spear was painted a camouflaged mix of greens and browns which aided greatly in her staying undetected in these alien woods. And perhaps it also helped compensate for her lack of stealth in other areas.  
  
Again she stepped forward and again she stopped and held her breath when the massive creature looked up. 'Only ten feet to go.'  
  
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a hint of red that could only be Fang's spear. A megaloceros was a difficult creature to kill by one's self. Fang would lie in wait, prepared to finish it off, if necessary.  
  
With irritation, Lightning noted that Fang was already closer to the grazing beast than she was.  
  
*step*  
  
*pause*  
  
*step*  
  
Flies were buzzing around her face. She was close. Her muscles tensed as she fixated completely on her target. She knew exactly where to deliver the blow.  
  
*ste-  
  
*snap*  
  
"Shit."  
  
The giant creature snorted and reared onto its hind legs. Reflexively, Lightning hurled her spear at the spooked animal, only to immediately catch her foot against the hidden root of a dead tree. The muddy ground gave way beneath her feet, twisting her ankle in a way that would've been substantially more painful had it not all been a dream.  
  
She cursed loudly, only half-noticing the cries of the dying beast as she grasped at her foot.  
  
Then she felt profoundly stupid and with a thought the pain vanished.  
  
Fang was rushing over to her.  
  
"You all right?"  
  
"Yeah," Lightning mumbled, sheepishly removing her hand from her ankle. It felt perfectly fine.  
  
"You did it!" Fang said, slapping a hand on her bare shoulder. "Won't win any points for grace, but still, very well done," she added, grasping the soldier's hand to lift her to her feet.  
  
Lightning huffed and muttered, "I think you're the one who actually killed it."  
  
"Nuh-uh," Fang said, her white teeth gleaming in the sun as she smiled. "It would've died with that wound you gave it. I just sped up the process."  
  
The wind was picking up as the sun finally began to touch the mountains on the horizon. Lightning couldn't hide her pride in herself even if she wanted to.  
  
Fang gave her a short kiss on the lips before beckoning Lightning towards the kill site with her finger, "Come on, now the fun begins."  
  
Lightning sighed, even as she followed Fang through the reeds to the spot by the water's edge where the poor dead creature was lying on it's side.  
  
Was it strange for a soldier to feel sick at the sight of blood? Lightning sure did. She'd never been entirely comfortable killing things that had done her no harm.  
  
She stood by silently as Fang reached into the pouch Lightning still had strapped to her upper thigh. Fang was sharing a story about a time when one of these creatures seriously wounded every single member of a five-man hunting party as she pulled out her skinning knife. Lightning still had yet to use it.  
  
"Come on, Light," Fang said, getting down on her knees and preparing to go to work. A smile formed on her lips, "You always insist on doing things the hard way. Now I get to teach you how to butcher your first kill."  
  
Lightning swallowed. Any hunger she may have had completely disappeared the instant Fang's knife began slicing into that dead creature's hind leg.  
  
…  
  
Most nights, it was just her and Fang, camping out alone underneath the stars and getting to know each other in ways that turned Lightning's face red and made her throat go dry with the memory, but there were also times when Fang would dream them into the Yun hunter's camp she knew as a teenager.  
  
Tonight, was one of those nights.  
  
As the two women walked into the camp, they were greeted personally by the clan leader amid the hoots and cheers of the assembled men and women. Before she knew it, Lightning found herself dragged into a night of dancing and singing where for some reason she was the center of attention.  
  
Apparently, to the people of Pulse, your first kill was a very big deal indeed. And even if she was born on the wrong world and about five-hundred years too late, well, Fang told her, that was still no excuse for her not to experience this rite of passage.  
  
Many of the two-dozen or so people in the camp resembled Fang. And it wasn't just their tanned skin, or tattoos, or how they dressed in the dark blue colors common to the Yun tribe, but it was more their bearing and self-confidence. To be honest, it was actually a little like being around the members of NORA during one of their parties, except without the annoyance of knowing that one of them was dating your sister.  
  
Initially, it had been hard to completely forget that these people weren't real, but Fang's memory was so vivid and the woman seemed so happy to be here that Lightning allowed herself to forget about what was real and what was not. So, she spoke to these people, these shadows of people who once existed, she drank with them and she even danced with them. She was, after all, being given a glimpse of what growing up was like for Fang, and the soldier understood just how special the opportunity really was.  
  
So, she let herself be lost in the festivities. She danced with the eligible women and men of the Tribe as was apparently customary on these occasions. Lightning had to admit that it was amusing to see the faintest hint of jealousy on Fang's face when a particular attractive Yun tribeswoman asked her to dance.  
  
Then, when the festivities were over, Lightning was led to a wooden platform where she was again congratulated for her prowess in front of the entire Tribe. Embarrassingly, Fang exaggerated the hunt like a fisherman exaggerating the size of his catch, but she was so full of pride in what Lightning had done that the soldier couldn't help but be moved by it all.  
  
Finally, she simply had to get away from all the noise and revelry and found a soft, grassy hill on the outskirts of camp. As on every clear night, the silvery sphere of Cocoon hung there unmoving in the night's sky. A night on Pulse was a sight that was easy to lose oneself in. She grew up having no idea that the universe was so vast.  
  
Suddenly, there was a beaded necklace dangling in her line of sight. She looked up to see Fang's hand holding it out to her.  
  
"What's this?" Lightning asked.  
  
There was something unusual in the warrior's expression, she seemed so strangely unsure of herself. A rare thing indeed. "It's for you."  
  
Lightning would've laughed at that non-answer had it not been for the serious look in other the woman's eyes. "For me?"  
  
Fang nodded and dropped it into Lightning's outstretched hand.  
  
The necklace was a simple rope strung with blue beads - not unlike the one Fang had always worn - and beautiful in its simplicity. "Is it customary to receive these after a first successful hunt or something?" Lightning asked.  
  
If anything, the woman seemed to grow even more nervous as she scratched the back of her head. "Oh... no. Not really."  
  
Lightning tilted her head. She had never seen Fang so flustered.  
  
Fang nervously fingered the necklace around her own neck. "'Nille made this one for me, after we went on our first successful hunt together, but necklaces can mean all sorts of things."  
  
She fingered the blue beaded creation in her hand, "Wait, you made this?"  
  
Again Fang nodded. "While I had you out tracking by yourself yesterday. I wanted to make you a ring, but I've never really been any good at metalworking or anything."  
  
Lightning couldn't stop herself from chuckling. "But why make this by hand at all?"  
  
Fang straightened. "It means more if it's made by hand."  
  
It was touching. No one had ever made her a gift before; no one made gifts on Cocoon. Without another word, she grabbed Fang's sari and pulled her into a kiss.  
  
Resting her forehead on Lightning's, Fang said breathlessly, "So, you'll accept it then?"  
  
Lightning's smile faded a little. Why was Fang acting so strangely? "Of course."  
  
Fang beamed at her as she took the necklace and slipped it over her lover's head. "Beautiful," she said, making herself comfortable in the soldier's lap.  
  
"There's something you're not telling me."  
  
The woman chuckled nervously, refusing to meet her gaze.  
  
"It's blue," Lightning continued, feeling the beads in her hands, trying to understand the meaning behind them. "Is that for the Yun tribe or something?"  
  
"Eh, kinda." Fang was staring at up at the sky now, her skin shone so beautifully in the light of Cocoon. "Um, not really…"  
  
"But the blue represents something?"  
  
There was a long moment of silence and Lightning watched Fang's green eyes intently as a hundred different things seemed to be playing through the woman's mind.  
  
"Your eyes," she finally blurted out. "It matches your eyes."  
  
Lightning chuckled at the self-conscious look on Fang's face. It wouldn't be fair to continue teasing her. "I love it. Thank you."  
  
Fang beamed.  
  
"I wish I had something for you." She struggled to think of anything that the huntress might like as a gift, but even if she could've thought of something, it didn't seem right to just summon it out of thin air. Fang had put so much effort into this.  
  
"I don't need anything. You're enough, Light."  
  
Lightning shook her head and actually laughed out loud, much to Fang's chagrin. "Thank you. I love this, really, but that was the cheesiest thing anyone's ever said to me. Are all women from Pulse as eloquent as you?"  
  
Fang snorted, plucked out some nearby grass, crumpled it into a ball and threw it at her.  
  
"Hey," she laughed, "what was that for?"  
  
"That's Gran Pulse to you."  
  
"Oh, right," Lightning said, still smiling so hard it made her cheeks hurt. Without a word, she pulled the other woman to her again, but just as she was about to kiss her she tickled the sides of the woman's exposed belly.  
  
"Hey, watch it," Fang squeaked. "My stomach is sensitive, yeah?"  
  
Finally conceding, Lightning sat there bemused as Fang delicately sprawled herself out on the grass and rested her head in her favorite position, the very center of Lightning's lap. The only reason her stomach was sensitive was because it was full of meat and that devil's brew Gran Pulsians called wine.  
  
They sat there together, admiring the brilliant stars in the night sky. The camp was quiet now and all that could be heard was the chirping of crickets and the gentle rustling of leaves. It was a while before Fang spoke again, "So, what do you think of Gran Pulse so far?"  
  
The soldier rolled her eyes. Fang asked that question just about every night. It was obvious Lightning was enjoying herself. Fang just liked to hear her say it. "Eh. It's all right."  
  
"Ha."  
  
"It's nice here... Well, without the war, and the fal'Cie anyway."  
  
Fang sighed happily, her eyes closed as she rested her hands on her chest, the fabric of the dark shirt bunching up and exposing her firm belly. Lightning was surprised the woman was bothering with clothes at all. It seemed like half the time she turned around to find Fang completely naked anyway.  
  
Not that she ever complained, exactly.  
  
She turned her attention skyward. There was Cocoon, as still as ever, shining an eerie silver in the darkness of night.  
  
"Fang?"  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"What do you think about the people who left here to go up to Cocoon?"  
  
Fang's green eyes met hers with a curious look, trying to read the meaning behind the question. Then the woman shrugged slightly, but seemed much too comfortable to actually consider sitting up. "Everyone wants to protect their family and friends. Can't blame 'em for leaving." With one hand she gestured at the world around them. "I love the wilds. Nothing controls it. It just exists, you know? But the fal'Cie wouldn't leave anyone alone. On Cocoon, you had the fal'Cie running everything, but here you had them turning us all into l'Cie or setting newer, more dangerous creatures on us."  
  
Lightning blinked. She hadn't considered that.  
  
"As kids we looked at the people up there as traitors... but they weren't. They just wanted a better life, they wanted safety. They had no way of knowing that Cocoon's fal'Cie cared just as little for them as the ones down here did."  
  
The soldier murmured in agreement. "They didn't care for us, yet here we are. In crystal stasis. Together."  
  
Fang smiled. "I guess there's always exceptions, huh?"  
  
'There certainly are,' Lightning thought. She had long assumed there would never be a woman she could truly be herself with. And yet, here she was.  
  
She schooled her expression. 'Talk about cheesy.' No way would she be telling Fang that. Lightning ran a hand through the woman's wild hair.  
  
The huntress was practically purring. Lightning had learned quickly that Fang very much enjoyed being petted. "Why'd you ask anyway?"  
  
Lightning thought about it for a moment, "I'm not so sure if I would've wanted to leave this behind, even with the danger. I think… maybe I belong here."  
  
Fang hummed in contentment. "Could've told you that the first time I laid eyes on you."  
  
"Tch."  
  
The woman in her lap stretched out her arms as she made herself even more comfortable.  
  
"Do you think everyone's all right?"  
  
Her eyes opened. "Yeah, I'm sure they are. They've survived worse."  
  
Lightning sighed. "I just wish I knew for sure... We don't even know how much time has passed."  
  
"Could be a day... could be a century. There's no way to know."  
  
Lightning rolled her eyes. "You know, that's not very reassuring."  
  
"Worried about your sister?"  
  
'That obvious, huh?' She nodded. "I wish we had some control over when we wake up. Don't get me wrong, I like it here -" she squeezed the strong arm resting on top of the head in her lap, "I just wish I could know for sure that Serah is all right."  
  
"Not gonna tell ya she's fine, you'd know better than me. But from what you've told me, she's a pretty strong woman herself. Plus, she's got Snow looking after her. Last thing he's gonna do is let something happen to her, not when he'd have you to answer to."  
  
The soldier shrugged. 'Fair enough.'  
  
"No one's visited our crystal, at least. We would've seen them."  
  
Inwardly, Lightning wondered how you could tell. Then she wondered if maybe she were killing the mood with her constant worrying.  
  
Again, she looked to the sky. Cocoon and Pulse may have been different worlds, but there was little difference between the people who lived on those worlds. The lived, and died, and loved. They had families and friends.  
  
She smiled to herself. It would be a shame to waste this gift she had been given, this chance to see what life had really been like on this world her sister and friends now inhabited.  
  
Perhaps with Fang and Vanille's help, the survivors of New Bodhum could create a home that was truly the best of both worlds; Cocoon and Pulse.  
  
"You're smiling," Fang said, breaking Lightning's trail of thought.  
  
Again, she shrugged. "I'm happy."  
  
"You know," Fang said, her eyes sparkling as she turned over and crawled her way up Lightning's stomach, pressing the woman gently down onto the grass, "I know something that would make you even happier."  
  
Lightning scoffed, even as Fang's strong arms encircled her. In an instant, the woman was completely naked – again - wearing nothing but her necklaces and bracelets. "You're insatiable."  
  
"Thanks. You're not so bad yourself."  
  
Her fingers traced patterns on the Fang's exposed back. It never ceased to amaze her just how comfortable the woman was in her own skin. But of course, Fang had a lot to be comfortable about.  
  
"Thank you," Lightning mumbled.  
  
Almost nose to nose, Fang raised an eyebrow in question.  
  
"- For teaching me... everything."  
  
Fang threaded her fingers through soft, pink hair as she leaned in for a kiss. "You make it easy, Light."

* * *

Oerba Dia Vanille

* * *

Some eight months later...  
  
...  
  
The approaching shuttle stirred up the sandy beach as Sazh brought it in for a landing. Before the boarding ramp even touched the ground, Vanille was out of the craft like a shot. She had been on enough of these missions to instantly recognize the unique blue color of a crystal lying some distance away. The way the sunlight reflected off its facets was very distinctive. This was what they had been searching for.  
  
Out of breath by the time she reached it, Vanille could see the crystal was very dirty but appeared to be otherwise intact. The base was buried about a foot deep in sand and green seaweed stuck in many of the crystal's spikes. As she brushed some sand away with a bare hand, Vanille's hopes were raised when she realized it was actually two people joined together into one crystal.  
  
Even better, they appeared to be women. She recognized Fang's tattoo, and Lightning's hair, but -  
  
She cleared off some more sand. 'Oh... ' Vanille stepped back in surprise. She hadn't expected to find them joined at the lips. "Oh, my."  
  
Hope finally caught up to her, panting from the exertion. "We found them!" he cried. A few moments later his mouth was hanging open like a fish.  
  
Fang had a hand on Lightning's naked breast. Vanille shook her head. "Oh, Fang. You don't waste any time do you?"  
  
Snow and Serah were running up to join them. "Did you find them?" the tall blonde man called out. Vanille could only nod. It was far too late to stop the big oaf from seeing anyways.  
  
"Is it Cl -" The question died on the younger Farron's lips. Vanille looked on as Serah's expression turned from relief to shock. Snow inspected the statue closely, oblivious to his wife's reaction. He seemed less surprised by the position the two women were in, at least until he realized his wife's sister, like all people in crystal stasis, was completely naked. In some kind of mix between fascination and horror, he kept staring for what was definitely way too long judging by Serah's narrow eyed glare and then hurriedly stepped back and looked away.  
  
Sazh seemed much less surprised when he finally joined them. "You know, I always had a feeling about those two."  
  
Vanille grew increasingly amused by everyone's reactions. "I was wondering if she'd ever find someone..." She wasn't just talking about Fang.  
  
Snow kept his eyes on the horizon, his face red. "I had no idea she was -" he trailed off, hands fidgeting with the lapel of his trench coat.  
  
"What?" Vanille asked unhelpfully.  
  
"I – uh – I mean, did you know that she and Fang were... you know?"  
  
Vanille's head tilted in confusion. She was starting to understand what Serah saw in him. Snow was kind of cute when he was flustered like this. She wasn't sure what he was asking though. Same-sex relationships seemed to be far more common on Cocoon than they had been on Gran Pulse. Why should he be so surprised?  
  
"So, this is Fang?" Serah interrupted.  
  
"Yep!" she chirped.  
  
"Claire mentioned her sometimes, but she never said they were..." again the words died on her lips.  
  
'Oh,' Vanille put a comforting hand on the woman's shoulder. "There wasn't any relationship, exactly. Not at the time. Fang was attracted to her, and I know your sister liked her back, but I don't think anything happened. There was too much going on, and Lightning is kind of -"  
  
"Quiet," Serah finished for her, her gaze hardening. "Stubborn? Secretive? In a whole lot of trouble when she wakes up? Yeah. She is."  
  
Vanille looked nervously at Serah and wasn't sure whether or not she should be scared for her crystallized friends.  
  
"Can you tell me about her?"  
  
Vanille nodded as she watched Snow and Sazh look first at the statue then at each other. "You grab one end and I'll grab the other," Sazh offered.  
  
Snow swallowed and nodded, eying his wife before opting to lift Lightning's side of the statue. His face growing redder, he looked the naked soldier over as he tried to decide on the best way to get some leverage.  
  
Serah's gaze grew increasingly hard as her husband ran his big hands over her sister's body.  
  
Snow eventually decided to kneel down and wrap his arms around Lightning's abdomen. As he lifted, he took a quick glance at Serah and lost his grip when his arms brushed the underside of Lightning's breasts. The statue fell harmlessly back into the sand and Snow recoiled from it like he had been hit with a thundaga spell.  
  
From the other side, Sazh raised an eyebrow, "Something wrong?" he asked, looking amused.  
  
The big man held up his hands. "I am not doing this. Someone else take this end."  
  
Vanille chuckled to herself as Hope also held up his hands and refused to get any closer. Even in crystal stasis, Lightning was one woman whom everyone was afraid to touch.  
  
She looked at Fang's left hand, still resting as it was on Lightning's breast. 'Well, almost everyone…'

* * *

Lightning Farron

* * *

Fang's fingers drifted lightly across the soldier's face, exploring her lips, her cheekbones, and her jaw before resting lightly against the nape of her neck, a thumb rubbing gently up and down the skin there.  
  
There was something about the way the huntress touched her when they were being intimate like this. It was as though Fang couldn't believe Lightning was really there.  
  
In Fang's arms, Lightning felt like a goddess.  
  
Fang, of course, actually was a goddess. She was like something out of an anatomy lesson dealing with the idealized human form; something attainable in theory but not in reality. Except there she was.  
  
Lightning loved strong women; not just physically strong women, but women who were confident, skilled and capable of defending themselves.  
  
The soldier broke away, trailing her lips down Fang's neck. At the same time, it was fun to shake that composure just a little, as she was doing now. She loved those little gasps of breath Fang would take when the soldier bit lightly into her skin.  
  
For a second, she thought she heard Serah's voice calling her name, but Lightning ignored it. She'd been here long enough to know it wasn't really her sister. Sometimes, in the heat of the moment, neither Lightning nor Fang could control their shared dream and the results would turn out very strange indeed.  
  
Still, thinking of her sister now of all times was certainly weird. It must've been all that wine she had drank.  
  
She had no idea how much time had passed since she and Fang had found themselves together in this dream world. A few days? Probably a week or two at most, Lightning assumed. However long it had been, being with Fang was like a being in a whirlwind. She'd learned to hunt, and forage, and fight like a Yun warrior all in the span of a few days.  
  
And for her part, Lightning shared more of her personal life than she ever imagined she would share with anybody. Fang wanted to see everything, wanted to learn everything about her. It was enormously flattering.  
  
Apart from that? They made love... a lot. It was almost embarrassing how much she found herself wanting Fang.  
  
Thankfully, Fang was willing to teach her all about that too; very, very willing.  
  
"Claire?"  
  
Funny, she didn't remember traveling back up to kiss Fang's mouth. Oh, well. Her fingers trailed around the woman's hips, searching -  
  
"Claire?!"  
  
Something about the tone of that voice finally got her attention and The solider broke away from her lover to see all the former l'Cie crowded around them. This dream was getting very strange indeed.  
  
Fang was rubbing her arms, "Um, Light?"  
  
She shut her eyes, but her old friends were still there when she opened them again.  
  
"I don't think we're dreaming anymore."  
  
Lightning sprang to her feet, finding them planted on the sandy ground of a vaguely familiar beach.  
  
"Fang!" The huntress had no time to move before Vanille practically jumped into her lap.  
  
Hope was the first one to approach Lightning, but stopped himself even as the soldier offered her hand. "I - it's good to see you, Light. I'll, uh, be right back -" And without another word, the boy dashed off for the airship parked a short distance away.  
  
Confused at this strange reception, Lightning scratched the back of her head, then felt a cool breeze against her bare skin. 'Shit.' No wonder Serah was gaping at her and Snow looked like he was going to pass out.  
  
Quickly, she covered her breasts with her arms. "Hey," she mumbled to her assembled friends, feeling profoundly stupid, her hair falling into her eyes like she was twelve years old. What a way to be reunited.  
  
Fang brushed up against her, a giggling Vanille still at her side. The huntress had her sari in her hands. "Here," she said, beckoning Lightning to lift her arm so she could drape it over her, giving Lightning some tiny feeling of protection from everyone's dumbstruck stares. At least she was still wearing the lower half of her battle armor. Where had her breastplate gone though?  
  
Then Vanille wrapped her in a tight hug. "I'm so glad you're safe!"  
  
Lightning hugged the girl back gently. Over Vanille's shoulder she could see her sister looking thoughtfully back at her. An unexpected feeling of loss made her reach for her necklace only to realize that was gone too. Everything from crystal stasis was gone.  
  
Fang whispered into her ear. "Don't worry. I'll make ya a new one. A real one."  
  
Lightning blushed and Serah was now actually smiling at her.  
  
Vanille gasped. "You made her a necklace?"  
  
"Yeah," Fang mumbled, her cheeks pink.  
  
"So, when's the wedding?"  
  
Lightning's jaw dropped and Fang was quick to shake her head, "It wasn't that kind of necklace!"  
  
The red-headed girl turned to Lightning, "What color were the beads?" she asked.  
  
"Blue," Lightning said, regarding Fang suspiciously.  
  
The squeak Vanille gave was almost ear-shattering. "Oh! That means she likes you, Light!"  
  
The soldier shook her head even as she laughed.  
  
Finally, as a still embarrassed looking Fang shook hands with the boys, Lightning was finally reunited with her sister. The shorter woman hugging her with all the strength of a Yun huntress.  
  
"I'm sorry," Lightning mumbled, squeezing her back just as tightly.  
  
"You ought to be," Serah said, her voice muffled in Lightning's borrowed sari, but betraying no real bitterness.  
  
"I should've told you."  
  
"Yes, you should've."  
  
"Someone had to cover the retreat."  
  
Serah pulled away, confusion written on her face. "What are you talking about?"  
  
Lightning's brow furrowed, shouldn't Serah be angry about the way she stayed behind in New Bodhum to die, all without telling her beforehand? "Huh? What are you talking about?"  
  
"I'm talking about Fang, you idiot," she said, giving her a playful push to the stomach. "Why didn't you tell me about her?"  
  
The soldier blanched. "I... uh."  
  
Fang's left hand pressed lightly against her back. "Hey," she said to Serah, her voice naturally charming. "It's nice to finally meet you. Light talks about you all the time."  
  
The two women smiled and shook hands with each other. Lightning felt a little worried. There was something conspiratorial in both their expressions. "I've heard a lot about you too... from Vanille."  
  
She allowed her hair to fall over her eyes again. This is what Serah must've felt like when she was dating Snow under her elder sister's watchful gaze.  
  
Speaking of which, "Hey, Sis. It's good to have you back."  
  
"Yeah, it wasn't the same without you, soldier," Sazh added. He didn't step forward to shake her hand as Snow had done. In fact, he looked almost as uncomfortable as Lightning felt. "I, uh, sent Hope back to the ship to find you something, um, more substantial to wear."  
  
Lightning looked down and to her horror Fang's sari wasn't exactly doing the best of jobs of covering her shorter frame. Fortunately, Fang, apparently unconcerned about being seen in her underwear, wrapped her in a hug to spare everyone any more accidental peeks at her breasts. "So, Serah," the huntress drawled, "do I have your permission to date your sister?"  
  
The soldier muttered a curse under her breath even as Serah giggled and nodded.  
  
Her big oaf of a husband chimed in, "And hey, if your wedding needs a best man -"  
  
There was a strong temptation to make a joke about how Snow was a completely inappropriate choice for the role of 'best man', but the press of Fang's lips against the top of her head made her forget all about it.  
  
Vanille was practically bouncing up and down with glee, "Aww, they're so cute!"  
  
Feeling like she wanted to die, Lightning buried her burning face in Fang's bare shoulder, willing herself to disappear forever. Everyone was staring at them. It couldn't be any more obvious that they weren't in crystal stasis anymore; this was all much too mortifying to be a dream.  
  
"Light?"  
  
"What?" she mumbled into the taller woman's skin.  
  
"I love you." Everyone around them went quiet.  
  
Lightning squeezed her back. The instinctual response was to wait until they were alone to respond truthfully, but she fought the desire. Fang deserved nothing less. "I love you too."  
  
The roar of the crashing waves was lost under Vanille and Serah's delighted squealing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From angst to sappy romance in twenty-thousand words c:
> 
> Anyways, for those of you who put up with me during the six months it took to write this, thanks ^^


End file.
